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Economics Snapshot - Water Footprints
26th July 2009
An area of growing concern is the water footprint of the goods and services we consume. The Worldwide Fund for Nature has estimated that each Britain effectively uses 4,645 litres of water a day to produce the food on our tables and the T-shirts on our backs
One cup of fresh coffee needs 140 litres of water to produce The production of one kilogram of beef requires 16,000 litres of water One litre of beer consumes less water (300 litres) than one litre of orange juice (850 litres) A meat and dairy-based diet consumes about 5,000 litres of virtual water a day while a vegetarian diet uses about 2,000 litres *Agriculture worldwide accounts of over 85% of fresh water usage
Source: Sustain Campaign for Water Labelling (pdf file download)
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.