How much water is consumed in food production?

The CSIRO research team at the Australian Federal Academy of Sciences used the concept of water footprint, or water consumption, to calculate the total amount of water used in the production and consumption of goods and services to explain the impact of food production on water scarcity.

According to the research team, food production accounts for 70% of the world’s freshwater use. In water-scarce areas, the amount of water required for food production is important. The researchers measured the diets of 9,341 Australian adults to determine their adjusted water-scarcity footprint. The corrected water consumption refers to the amount of water consumption adjusted to the water consumption required for the production of the food in consideration of the scarcity of water in the production area.

As a result of the study, the corrected water consumption required to produce a daily meal for the subjects was an average of 362 liters. By food, almonds required 3,448 liters per kg, dried apricots required 3,363 liters per kg, and cereals required 1,464 liters of water per kg. When looking at the adjusted water consumption required to produce the subject’s meal, 25% was used to produce cakes, biscuits and alcohol, and 19% was used to produce fruits and fruit addresses. On the other hand, the adjusted water consumption for meat was only 3.7% of the total. These results show that meat is an excellent food from a water consumption perspective alone.

Meanwhile, the research team said it is difficult to determine the amount of water consumed to produce the food they eat. For example, the calibrated water consumption required to produce a medium-sized apple is 3 liters, while the calibrated water consumption required to produce 250 ml orange juice is more than 100 liters. This is due to the fact that the calibrated water consumption required to produce apples and oranges can vary significantly, and multiple fruits are required to make the juice. Therefore, it is difficult for consumers to understand the calibrated water consumption for a particular food production.

The calibrated water consumption also changes depending on the producer of the food. As a result of examining the adjusted water consumption of tomatoes shipped to Sydney, the adjusted water consumption by producers varied from 5 liters per kg to 52.8 liters per kg. This variation is due to differences in agricultural practices and differences in the degree of water scarcity by region.

The research team said that water consumption is important for food production and consumption, but it is only one of the environmental factors, so it is not necessary to recommend changing what you eat based on water consumption alone. It is explained that there is Related information can be found here.