Sunday 18 April 2010

the water costs hidden in everyday things

Found an interesting article, very interesting article, on the bbc today: a report detailing how much water is used to produce various everyday items. Putting the link to the article here, but as a teaser;
  • 70 liters of water needed to produce 1 apple
  • 30 liters needed to produce enough tealeaves for a cup of tea
  • a staggering 140 liters to produce one cup of coffee
  • 440 liters to produce one loaf of bread!
  • 3,875 liters of water go into making a beef steak.
The quantities given are for "embedded" water - all the water needed to grow, harvest, prepare, ship and sell the product. The article comes from a report warning about western nations buying water 'rich' items from developing countries, such as Kenya which uses precious water resources to grow flowers for the European market.

Very interesting article, well worth reading, then pondering, then acting upon.

2 comments:

  1. Wow! That really makes you think, doesn't it? I found the count for tea leaves most amazing. Imagine ... if you could just have plain boiled water minus the tea-leaves, think how much water would be saved!
    aaaah but then, of course, the world is often such a much better place after swigging that cup of tea! ;D

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  2. Ah yes Sunita, I must agree: a good cuppa can fix almost anything! And looks like it's a better alternative to a cup of coffee, water wise at least!

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thanks for sharing!