Water Footprints | 630 Gallons for a Hamburger

A child bathes in water from a drilled well at Kembang Tanjung village, Aceh, IndonesiaToday is World Water Day 2010. Incredible as it seems, in the developing world, a billion people go without clean water. Dirty water kills more people than violence, says the UN.

Fast Company features three projects that are changing the future: Dutyion Root Hydration System; Floating Sensor Network; and Mana Energy.

See UN’s World Water Day website. Read on for more information at Christian Science Monitor.

A young man collects water from a well in the Village of Tectibayaou in the community of Toucoutouna in Benin

Talk to the average American and he or she has almost no concept about the amount of energy — and now water — required to make the products that we consume.

Europeans are much more sensitive to such production-related statistics, which may explain their tendencies to be light years ahead of Americans, on environmental actions.

Today’s WSJ has an informed and fascinating article on our “water footprint”. Can you process these statistics? I can’t:

It takes roughly 20 gallons of water to make a pint of beer, as much as 132 gallons of water to make a 2-liter bottle of soda, and about 500 gallons, including water used to grow, dye and process the cotton, to make a pair of Levi’s stonewashed jeans.

Before we say “so what” we must understand that two-thirds of the world’s population is projected to face water shortages by 2025. In the U.S. 36 states anticipate water shortages by 2013.

On a positive note, representatives from about 100 companies, including Nike Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Levi Strauss & Co. and Starbucks Corp., will gather in Miami for a summit on calculating and shrinking corporate water footprints.

I can only say that being a conscientious consumer becomes more challenging every day. I have no sense of my real impact on the environment.

A cup of coffee is so small; how can it take 35 gallons of water to produce it? Anne