Water Footprint Of Our Food

As population grows and the standard of living increases for many people the water footprint tells us how much water is used each and every day in all our activities such as for producing our food and to clothe us and indicates the pressure we exert on our freshwater resources.

Water footprint of our food. Some simple dietary changes can save a lot. 1 blue water footprint. The amount of surface water and groundwater required evaporated or used directly to produce an. Meat has the biggest water footprint across the food categories.

But not all meats have the same water footprint. Meat portion size and water footprints. Beef tends to have the highest water footprint and fish has the lowest no freshwater needed if caught in the ocean beef. If a couple were to eat chicken instead of beef they would reduce their water footprint by as much as 450 000 litres over a year.

Food s big water footprint the big water footprint of food and agriculture. The numbers are especially high for meat and animal. All other animal products however have larger water footprints per gram of fat when compared to oil crops. While the water footprint of whole foods like fruits and vegetables is made up entirely of water needed to grow processed foods require additional water for things like cleaning the food and machinery pre cooking the food producing fuel for delivery and making packaging materials.

What you eat makes up at least one half of your total water footprint thanks to the large volume of virtual water needed to grow and produce your food. Cloves 61 205 liters of water used to produce 1 kilogram of cloves 7 334. For beef the water footprint per gram of protein is 6 times larger than for pulses. Water footprints of foods and ingredients highest to lowest per 1 kg or 2 2 pounds click on food ingredient to see full profile.

Food s big water footprint the 900 gallon diet. For example the water footprint of 200 grammes of beef is the equivalent to 47 eight minute showers and uses four times more water than the same amount of chicken meat. California s recent multi year extreme drought was hard on the state s. Comparing the water footprint of meat to fruits and vegetables.

In the case of fat butter has a relatively small water footprint per gram of fat even lower than for oil crops.