WATER USAGE IN FOOD

It takes 5,000 litres of water to make 1kg of cheese, 20,000 litres to grow 1kg of coffee, and 100,000 litres to produce 1kg of hamburger beef

Food production is completely dependent on water. Indeed, 90% of all managed water is used for growing and processing food. Crops need water to grow; livestock need not only water to drink, but water for food plants. Most food processing involves huge amounts of water. But even so, the amount needed to produce different food products varies enormously.
According to the US Geological Survey, it takes just 3 gallons (around 11 litres) of water to produce a single serving of tomatoes, 6 gallons (23 litres) for a single serving of french fries or lettuce, 35 gallons (132 litres) for rice and 150 gallons (568 litres) for a loaf of bread. This compares to a whopping 1,300 gallons (4,921 litres) for a hamburger.
Producing meat is incredibly demanding in terms of water use.
Not only do farm animals consume a vast amount of food themselves, all of which needs water to grow, they drink a lot too – and the whole business of slaughtering and processing meat also uses a great deal of water. It takes 1,000 times as much water to produce a pound of meat as to produce a pound of wheat.
According to the International Water Management Institute, those on Western meat-eating diets consume the equivalent of 5,000 litres of water a day, compared to 1,000 litres for those on largely vegetarian diets in developing countries. The problem is that there’s barely enough water to go around now, and in the future things are likely to be much worse. As
the world’s population rises, the need for food also escalates, as does our need for water. In twenty years’ time, we will need about 25% more water around the world to grow sufficient food. Yet global warming may mean we actually have less water available than we do now. When you add to this the forecast that the world’s cities will increase their water demands by 50% over the next twenty years, it becomes clear that we may not have enough water to grow all the food we need.
Since producing meat uses so much more water than producing vegetables, it makes sense to cut down on the amount of meat eaten around the world. Yet the world eats more and more meat each year as developing countries such as China switch to Western-style, meat-heavy diets.

In: '101 Facts You Should Know About Food', John Farndon
Published in the UK in 2007 by Icon Books Ltd, The Old Dairy, Brook Road, Thriplow, Cambridge SG8 7RG
p.13-14