The valley of the Rio Negro river is blessed with abundant water. To get the water from the river to the plantations, a canal and irrigations system was built. There is no shortage of water in the area.

Water footprint

Apples
Total water footprint: 830.2 liters/kg.
 
Pears
Total water footprint: 818.8 liters/kg.

What this means
The water footprint shows the amount of water used for one kilogram of fruit, for the whole process: from the tree to a European store. The global average water footprint for apples is 700 litres. The footprint of Bettina’s apples and pears is a bit higher, because of the dry and sunny climate. The water footprint of the plums was not calculated.
 
Technical explanation
The water footprint was calculated in line with the Water Footprint Network methodology. It distinguishes between “blue”, “”green” and “grey” water. “Blue” refers to surface waters and ground water, “green” refers to rain water in the upper soil, and “grey” refers to the amount of water pollution. Water use related to the generation of electricity and the production of input materials was excluded. This calculation was based on data regarding yields and practices for the season/year of 2008. The water footprint study was carried out independently by Soil & More International BV. www.soilandmore.com