The effort to measure the "water footprint" of...products exported by Chile could provide some answers by year's end...[T]he leading entity for defining the standards is the Water Footprint Network...[whose] Chilean partners [include]...the Chile Foundation...the Green Solutions consultancy, and the wine producer Concha y Toro, De Martino, and Errázuriz. The Chile Foundation was created by...ITT Corporation...the Chilean government, and...Minera Escondida [part of BHP Billiton]...In a pilot effort, the Foundation is measuring the water footprint of products and companies, mostly in...a semi-desert area, with scarce water resources, major mining projects, and export agriculture...To create a complete map, it is preparing to measure -- for the first time in the world -- the full impact of mining activity on water...[T]he water footprint could become a management tool, both for the public and private sectors...There have been many disputes in Chile in recent years over the contamination of rivers and the conflicting interests of the mining, farming, sanitation and hydroelectric sectors... [also refers to Barrick Gold]