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The Other Footprint | The Water Footprint

How much do you know about your Water Footprint?

When you drink one glass of beer, 75 litres of water have been consumed 

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 12 July, 2008: - - You’ve heard of the Carbon Footprint – the measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide. Surfersvillage sheds light on the other foot; Your Water Footprint.

The Water footprint of an individual is defined as the total water used for the production of the goods and services consumed by the individual. It can be estimated by multiplying all goods and services consumed by their respective virtual-water content.

The water footprint of a nation shows the total volume of water that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the nation. The water footprint consists of two parts: Use of domestic water resources and use of water outside the borders of the country. The water footprint includes water withdrawn from surface and groundwater and the use of soil water (in agricultural production).

Some facts and figures;

The production of one kilogram of beef requires 16 thousand litres of water.

To produce one cup of coffee requires 140 litres of water.

The water footprint of China is about 700 cubic meter per year per capita. Only about 7% of the Chinese water footprint falls outside China.

Japan with a footprint of 1150 cubic meter per year per capita, has about 65% of its total water footprint outside the borders of the country.

The USA water footprint is 2500 cubic meter per year per capita.  

Water is rapidly becoming a hot issue:

With water use increasing six-fold in the past century-more than twice the rate of Earth's population growth, demand for water is fast outstripping what the planet can replenish. As pollution increases in many areas, the quantity of drinkable water continues to dwindle. The average American guzzles about 100 gallons of water daily, compared to the 50 to 60 gallons the French and Germans use each day.

In fact, one flush of a toilet in the developed world, uses as much water as the average person in the developing world allocates for an entire day's cooking, washing, cleaning, and drinking.

Some random Water Footprints are listed below;

Wine ............ Water footprint: 120 litres of water for one glass of wine.
Beer ............ Water footprint: 75 litres of water for one glass of beer
Beef ............ Water footprint: 15500 litres of water per kg of beef.
Paper ..........  Water footprint: 10 litres of water for one A4-sheet of paper.
Sugar .......... Water footprint: 1500 litres of water for 1 kg of cane sugar.
Maize ........... Water footprint: 900 litres for 1 kg of maize.     

Bread ........... Water footprint: 40 litres of water for one slice of wheat bread..

Apple ........... Water footprint: 70 litres for one apple.
Cheese ........ Water footprint: 5000 litres of water for 1 kg of cheese.
Coffee .........  Water footprint: 140 litres for 1 cup of coffee.
Chicken ........ Water footprint: 3900 litres for 1 kg of chicken meat.
Hamburger ..  Water footprint: 2400 litres of water for one hamburger!
Leather.........  Water footprint: 16600 litres for 1 kg of leather.

Useful links

Calculator Publications Product Gallery National water footprint

Quick calculator Extended calculator The water footprint concept Research data

www.waterfootprint.org

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