As I was enjoying one of our local home brewed beers, I started thinking about how much water does it take to make this one beer, which led into how much water does it take to do anything. When you are living in one of the 12 states that have drought conditions and under mandatory water rationing, it is important to look at other options.
The choices are hard, being an ecoist, stop buying, don’t eat meat, no bottled water. As a realist our economy and peoples jobs rely on us consuming. The answer can be pretty simple, buy local and only what you need, but is that realistic?
I thought I would take a look at how much water it takes to make or grow things and make eco choices from there. To find out more choices go to a Water Calculator at US Government
Clothing
- 700 gallons of water to make a cotton shirt most of that 400 gallons is to grow the cotton.
- 2,600 gallons to make a pair of jeans.
- 101 gallons of water to make a pound of Wool.
- 2,110 gallons of water for one pair of leather shoes.
Drinks 
- 8 gallons of water to make a gallon of beer
- 53 gallons to make a latte
- 1.85 gallons of water to manufacture the plastic for the bottle in the average commercial bottle of water.
- 37 gallons of water per cup of coffee
- 1,056 gallons of water per gallon of brewed coffee.
- 108 gallons of water per gallon of brewed tea
- 32 gallons of water per glass of wine
- 122 gallons per pound for milk.
Food
Dairy Products
- 36 gallons of water per egg
- 302 Gallons per pound for Tofu
- 381 gallons per pound for butter and cheese
Fruits And Vegetables
- 18 gallons of water per apple
- 3 gallons of water per tomato
- 34 Gallons per pound for Potatoes
- 50 Gallons per pound for Watermelon, strawberries and Pineapples.
- 60 gallons of water per serving of corn
- 100 gallons per pound for Apples, Bananas and Grapefruit.
- 141 Gallons per pound for Avocados
- 704 Gallons per pound for Lentils
Basics
- 11 gallons of water per slice of bread
- 222 Gallons per pound for pasta
- 299 Gallons per pound for rice
Nuts. There has been a huge amount of flack about the growing on Almonds in California and the amount of water it takes. The issue seemed to be that most of the almonds were exported.
- 1260 Gallons per pound Hazelnuts
- 1112 Gallons per pound of walnuts
- 1362 Gallons for one pound of pistachios
- 1704 Gallons cashews
- 1929 Gallons almonds
Meat – one of the most eco friendly things you can do is stop eating meat.
- 518 gallons of water per pound for Chicken
- 616 gallons of water per 4 oz. hamburger
- 718 Gallons per pound for Pork
- 1,248 gallons per pound for Sheep
- 1,232 gallons of water per 8 oz. steak
Transportation
- 39,090 gallons of water to make a car.
- 518 gallons to to make a tire
- 55 gallons for synthetic rubber
Building
- 5.4 gallons of water are used to grow enough wood for one lumber board.
- 13 gallons of water to make.
- 62,000 gallons of water Steele
- 1,360 gallons Concrete
What is very sad is the amount of food we throw away every day. Not only are we wasting food, we are wasting water a valuable resource.
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