Virtual water

An uncomfortable truth: it may take around 140 liters--37 gallons--of water to brew my morning cup of coffee. That's if you count the H2O to grow and transport the beans to me here in Vegas... and the small amount of water I actually put in my coffee maker.

People do not only consume water when they drink it or take a shower. In 1993, Professor Allan, 71, strikingly demonstrated this by introducing the “virtual water” concept, which measures how water is embedded in the production and trade of food and consumer products. Behind that morning cup of coffee are 140 litres of water used to grow, produce, package and ship the beans. That is roughly the same amount of water used by an average person daily in England for drinking and household needs. The ubiquitous hamburger needs an estimated 2,400 litres of water. Per capita, Americans consume around 6,800 litres of virtual water every day, over triple that of a Chinese person.