Our Water Footprint

Introduction

While most everyone understands that water is essential to life and that it’s necessary for our society’s functions, most people don’t understand how much water is needed to make even basic foods.  For example, how many gallons of water does producing a pound of beef cost?

The answer is 1800 gallons of water! This can be a mind-boggling amount for people unfamiliar with the process required to create your Friday night steak. In order to raise a steer, grass, forage, and feed are required, components that all require copious amounts of water in order to operate properly. Consider that it takes 147 gallons of water to produce one pound of corn, and that a steer can often eat thousands of pounds of feed over a period of a few months.

Typical values for the volume of water required to produce common foodstuffs
Foodstuff	Quantity	Water consumption, litres
Chocolate	1 kg	17,196
Beef	1 kg	15,415
Sheep Meat	1 kg	10,412
Pork	1 kg	5,988
Butter	1 kg	5,553
Chicken meat	1 kg	4,325
Cheese	1 kg	3,178
Olives	1 kg	3,025
Rice	1 kg	2,497
Cotton	1 @ 250g	2,495
Pasta (dry)	1 kg	1,849
Bread	1 kg	1,608
Pizza	1 unit	1,239
Apple	1 kg	822
Banana	1 kg	790
Potatoes	1 kg	287
Milk	1 x 250ml glass	255
Cabbage	1 kg	237
Tomato	1 kg	214
Egg	1	196
Wine	1 x 250ml glass	109
Beer	1 x 250ml glass	74
Tea	1 x 250 ml cup	27
Source: IME

Here is a list of some common food items that you would often buy at a store or have for a meal, and their corresponding water consumption, in SI units. It’s a good way to show just how much we rely on water and how much we need for our societies to function.

The Problems and the 70%

Agriculture requires a lot of food, and water scarcity can destroy the food supply for millions of people. Agriculture currently uses up roughly 70% of our global water supply, according to TheWaterProject. Only 3% of the Earth’s water is freshwater, and this means that agriculture has to compete with other sectors of society for water.

Now, where does this leave the state of the world’s food production and how does this have to do with our water supply? Well currently the world’s farms produce enough food to theoretically feed everyone on the planet, yet millions of people still go hungry because they cannot afford to pay for it. Farmers produce a lot of food every year, yet 30%, or 1.3 billion tons is wasted every year, as the food has to pass through a long process to get to your dinner table. This also means that the water used to make the food is wasted as well.

California’s Case

A good example to look at for the effects of water scarcity and food scarcity is California, which is still suffering from the effects from a historic drought.

The drought and the subsequent increased cost of water have led to declines in agricultural production across the state. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, production of oranges were down 9 percent, avocados down 13 percent, garlic down 6 percent, romaine lettuce 15 percent, and olives 29 percent in 2014, compared with the previous three-year average. The drought cost California’s farmers $1.5 billion in 2014 alone due to the combination of revenue losses from lower production and additional pumping costs.

While this drought did not cause very significant effects worldwide, it still created major problems regarding the water supply of the Southwest United States, causing a lot of strain and forcing water rationing over the state of California. Failure to manage California’s depleting groundwater could also lower California’s ability to sustain agricultural production during the next drought.

The Future

So what does this hold for the future of our food? Well, according to our current statistical models the world will have a population of 9.7 billion by 2050, and food production will have to match that. The problem is not that food production can’t match the number of people in the world but how to get that food to them. The necessity of ramping up food production will also increase the competition over the remaining water sources.

As a result, there is an increased possibility that because of improper water management, more demand for water, and climatic factors, America and the rest of the world could be looking at a scenario where a large and severe drought could seriously damage our food supply. In order to prevent such an event from happening, organizations are working together to encourage smart water management and a sturdy food supply chain.

The main takeaway from this is to remind readers how much is needed for agriculture and the possible problems that dependence can cause down the road.

Credits:

https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/drought-impact-study-california-agriculture-faces-greatest-water-loss-ever-seen

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste#data

https://thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity/water-scarcity-and-agriculture

http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/food_security.shtml