From: Environmental News Network – May 26, 2008 (Read Full Article: http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/36808)
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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 The water footprint includes water withdrawn from surface and groundwater and the use of soil water (in agricultural production).
A Few Facts
- The production of 1 kilogram of beef requires 16,000 liters of water.
- To produce 1 cup of coffee we need 140 liters of water.
- The water footprint of China is about 700 cubic meter per year per capita. Only 7% of the Chinese water footprint falls outside China.
- The USA water footprint is 2500 cubic meter per year per capita.
What’s Your Water Footprint?
If you’re interested in calculating your individual water footprint:
http://www.waterfootprint.org/index.php?page=cal/waterfootprintcalculator_indv_ext