Water: How important is it to you?

For the majority of us in Asheville, water is one of those things we expect to be available when we need it. In Asheville we are truly blessed with some of the best freshwater in the county; at least until it leaves the reservoirs that is. Even after treatment it is still ranked pretty high the water quality index. We don't think much about it until something occurs (water line breaks and such) that temporarily removes the luxury we are accustomed to. I use the word luxury intentionally because it is just that, even though we don't think of it that way. We have become very reliant on quick, easy, consistent access to clean water; so much so that we don't think about how integrated water is in our daily lives. Believe me, everything you do during the course of your day is in someway reliant on this natural resource. I'm not talking about the obvious things like drinking, showering & bathing, personal waste removal, washing clothes dishes, cooking and cleaning. Water is so much more to our lives than we think about; water makes everything we do possible!!!

Here are a few examples

How Many Gallons of Water does it take to make . . .

..A car: It takes an estimated 39,090 gallons of water to make a car. It's unclear if that includes the more 2,000 gallons used to make its tires--each tire takes 518 gallons to make.

One Pair of Jeans: Takes around 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce just one pair of regular ol' blue jeans.

One Barrel of Beer: 32 gallons requires 1,500 gallons of water.

One To-Go Latte: Takes 53 gallons to make every latte.

One Gallon of Paint: Takes 13 gallons of water to make.

One Ton of...                                                               

Steel: 62,000 gallons of                                          

Cement: 1,360 gallons

One Pound of . . .                                                 

Wool: 101 gallons

Cotton: 101 gallons

Plastic: 24 gallons

Synthetic Rubber: 55 gallons

Note: In general these figures have been derived from work done by Waterfootprint.org and represent gallons of water consumed per pound of food (except for beverages, in which case the volumes are listed). They represent global averages, not conditions specific to any one place.

Per pound Fruits, Vegetables & Grains:

Lettuce -- 15 gallons

Tomatoes -- 22 gallons

Cabbage -- 24 gallons

Cucumber -- 28 gallons                        

Potatoes -- 30 gallons

Oranges -- 55 gallons

Apples -- 83 gallons

Bananas -- 102 gallons

Corn -- 107 gallons

Peaches or Nectarines -- 142 gallons

Wheat Bread -- 154 gallons

Mango -- 190 gallons

Avocado -- 220 gallons

Tofu -- 244 gallons                                              

Groundnuts -- 368 gallons

Rice -- 403 gallons

Olives -- 522 gallons

Chocolate -- 2847 gallons

Meat & Dairy

This is where water intensity really starts increasing. If you want to reduce the water footprint of your diet, this is where you want to really cut back:

                                                                       

Eggs -- 573 gallons

Chicken -- 815 gallons

Cheese -- 896 gallons

Pork -- 1630 gallons

Butter -- 2044 gallons

Beef -- 2500-5000 gallons (Global figures for the water intensity of beef vary so significantly that an average isn't particularly informative, so a range of figures is given)

Beverages

Tea (8oz) -- 7 gallons

Beer, barley (8oz) -- 36 gallons

Coffee (8oz) -- 29 gallons

Wine (8oz) -- 58 gallons

Maybe if we pay more attention to how relevant water is in our everyday lives we'll be less wasteful of all the things it provides us, including good health.

AP







www.AskAquaPro.com
AquaPro@AskaquaPro.com 

www.AquaProSolutions.com 
www.AquaEnvi.org,  
www.AshevilleGreenPlumbing.com,
 

AskAsheville - Asheville Twitter - Asheville Blog -
Asheville Videos - Asheville Social Media