When considering that water is the most essential component of most manufacturing operations, you see that we the high consuming class end up wasting an astounding amount of fresh water.
Here are a few quick facts about the overwhelming water used by something as simple and benign as going to the grocery store:
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We rarely think about water when we see an automobile, for example, but producing a typical U.S. car requires more than 50 times its weight in water (39,090 gallons)! Choosing a fuel-efficient model will help–it takes 44 gallons of water to refine one gallon of crude oil and 1,700 gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol.
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A kilogram (2.2 lbs) of hamburger or steak produced by a typical California beef cattle operation, for instance, uses some 20,500 liters (5,400 gal.) of water.
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Producing 1 lb of bread requires 500 gallons of water.
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Producing 1 serving (8 oz.) of chicken requires 330 gallons of water.
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Growing one cotton T-shirt requires 256 gallons of water.
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Producing 1 egg requires over 100 gallons of water.
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Producing 1 serving (8 fl. oz.) of milk requires 48 gallons of water.
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Producing 1 serving (2 oz.) of pasta requires 36 gallons of water.
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Producing 1 serving (4.6 oz.) of oranges requires 14 gallons of water.
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Producing 1 serving (4.3 oz.) of tomatoes requires 8 gallons of water.
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Producing a typical American Thanksgiving dinner for six people requires over 30,000 gallons of water.
