| Virtual Water - What Is Your Water Footprint? |
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| Written by Day Tooley | |
| Friday, 09 May 2008 | |
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I love Discover Magazine. Every issue stimulates my thinking with insights that help define existence and place. Today I learned that virtual water is a close relative to carbon footprints.
Virtual water is a calculation of the water needed for the production of any product from start to finish. A cup of coffee takes 37 gallons of water to produce (plus the toilet flush). Here are some examples: 
It takes about 155 gallons of water to grow a pound of wheat. An apple takes 19 gallons. A pair of leather shoes requires a whopping 4,400 gallons of water to produce! The world average for annual virtual water usage is 328,410 gallons per person. An American doubles that at 656,012 gallons per person annually. China: only 185,412 virtual gallons of water per person per year. As we cope with the effects of global warming, the big issue for many nations will be water. The U.S. imports virtual water from China with every purchase of anything made or grown there. Like biofuels from corn take food from the hungry to feed our gas tanks, our consumption of stuff takes water from thirsty people worldwide. Want to know more about this and determine your own virtual water footprint? Dip your virtual toe in WaterFootprint.org. Comments (0)
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 10 May 2008 ) |
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