Today marks the UN's World Water Day. Water is one of the major issues of our time and is likely to become even more important in the future. People around the world and in our own country lack access to clean drinking water.
When a billion people in the world already live in chronic hunger and water resources are under pressure we cannot pretend the problem is ‘elsewhere’.
We can all help by following some simple steps:
- follow a healthier, sustainable diet;
- consume less water-intensive products;
- reduce the scandalous food wastage: 30% of the food produced worldwide is never eaten and the water used to produce it is definitively lost!
wasted food.
Here’s the down low on H2O:
70 per cent of the world’s water is used for agriculture
1,755 litres of water required to make one sausage.
160 litres of water is used to produce one large banana
230 litres of water are used to make one 200-ml glass of apple juice.
1,040 litres of water are used for 1 kg of potato chips
50 litres of water is used to produce one tomato; about 530 litres to produce 1 kg of tomato ketchup
500 litres of water goes into producing 100 grams of cheese
1,260 litres of water goes into one margherita pizza
120 litres of water is used to make a 125-ml glass of wine
74 litres of water is used to make a 250-ml glass of beer
30 litres of water is required to grow enough tea leaves to make a single cup of tea
30 percent of the food produced worldwide is lost or wasted every year.
50 per cent reduction of food losses and waste at the global level would save 1,350 cubic kms of water a year. (By comparison, the volume of Lake Ontario is 1,640 cubic kms.)
Sources: United Nations, Canada Water Week, Water Footprint Network and One Drop.
For more information check out: www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/
CHALLENGE: help your families plan meals for the week in a manner that will reduce food waste. Remember that the less processed the food is the less water is used in its production.
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