How much water does a tannery use per tonne of raw hide, and what is a good level?

The European tanning reference document gives 40 to 50 cubic metres of water per tonne of raw bovine hide, cut to 12 to 30 with good control and housekeeping. Calf skins need about 40 and sometimes more. A Spanish 1996 average was 11.3 litres per square foot of finished leather.

The numbers the document prints

• Bovine hides: 40 to 50 cubic metres per tonne of raw hide, which can be cut to 12 to 30 with efficient technical control and good housekeeping.
• Examples it names: German tanneries using 15 to 20, one reporting 9; a Dutch tannery on fresh bovine hides about 20; calf skins about 40 and sometimes more.
• For a traditional tannery it gives an average range of 25 to 80 cubic metres per tonne of processed hide. For 12 tonnes of hide a day it puts the annual effluent at up to about 200,000 cubic metres.
• Tanneries making finished leather from intermediate products use less water than integrated tanneries; the document says consumption is low compared with them.

Per square foot

Spanish tanneries in 1996 averaged 11.3 litres per square foot of finished leather. Times 10.764 square feet per square metre, that is 121.6 litres per square metre. It is one country, one year, so it is a sense check, not a target.

Where the water is lost

The document says that in tanneries with poor water management only about 50% of the water consumed is actually used in the process. The other half goes in running water losses, overflowing vessels, leaks, pipes left running and over-frequent washing of floors and drums.

Withdrawal or consumption

This is my reading. The document's water consumption is water taken in, and its chart shows about the same volume leaving as effluent. In the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR), taking water in is withdrawal, and consumption is withdrawal minus discharge. So do not enter these cubic metres per tonne as BRSR consumption.

The document's own 12 tonnes a day, at both levels

• Annual hide: 12 x 365 = 4,380 tonnes
• At 40 to 50 cubic metres per tonne: 175,200 to 219,000 cubic metres a year (the document says up to about 200,000, a rounded figure that does not tie to its ranges)
• At 12 to 30: 52,560 to 131,400 cubic metres a year

The 12 tonnes a day is the document's own example; 365 days is an assumption. Your tannery sits somewhere in these ranges, so read your own meter or bills for the real figure.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into records by billing period. Water is not part of that, so keep cubic metres per month and hide tonnes in your own sheet.

• Water withdrawal and consumption in BRSR
• Water questions for a leather or textile exporter
• Tannery energy per tonne of raw hide

Sources: European Commission, Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Reference Document on Best Available Techniques for the Tanning of Hides and Skins, February 2003 edition (filed by the publisher as superseded)

Last reviewed 2026-11-06. Figures are from the February 2003 edition of the European tanning reference document, which the publisher files as superseded; its energy and effluent tables rest on European tanneries and on older studies. Check the current edition and your own records before you quote a number to a buyer.