Although calculating the water footprint of a product, organization or a sector contributes to assessing and understanding the pressure on water resources, it does not provide any information on how to reduce the water use or its impact on the environment.The objective of this paper is to present a methodology for feasibility studies on water neutrality for the food processing industry in Flanders (Belgium). In 2010 a total amount of ca. 46 106 m3 water was used in the Flemish food processing industry of which 68% consisted of ground water. Based on a mass balance of water, scientific data, the Flemish Input Output model and a participative process with stakeholders, an overall concept of water neutrality in the Flemish food processing industry was developed. The method consists of three steps.-defining the concept of water neutrality in the context of the Flemish food processing industry;-defining measures for reducing the impact of the Flemish food processing industry on their water use and determine the reduction potential for those measures, taking into account the implementing risks;-translating the measures into a roadmap for the next twenty years and verifying if the measures are sufficient to turn over the actual Flemish food industry into a water neutral one.By defining and applying the water neutrality concept in this feasibility study for the Flemish food processing industry, it can be concluded that it will be hard for the industry to become water neutral by 2030, but the developed roadmap shows how the industry can become more sustainable by 2030 and take significant steps.

Les recherches effectuees conjointement en Wallonie (Belgique) et dans le bassin Artois Picardie (Nord de la France) sur l'eau des aquiferes mettent en evidence que le nickel peut etre d'origine naturelle. L'apparition de cet allergene parait liee a la mise en solution de marcassite ou de pyrite dans des conditions de milieu specifique avec pour corollaire une elevation de la teneur en sulfates des eaux de nappe analysees. Les conditions de solubilisation du nickel sont etudiees: Eh, pH, liens avec les oxydes de fer et de manganese. En outre, une observation des variations du rapport nickel/cobalt peut permettre de distinguer le nickel d'origine naturelle de celui resultant des activites humaines. Ces differentes donnees nouvelles devraient permettre de mieux gerer la ressource en eau alimentaire eu egard au cadre plus contraignant de la nouvelle directive europeenne concernant les eaux de distribution