• Freshwater

    • Only a tiny fraction of Earth's water is freshwater, or water that we can drink. Freshwater is becoming a threatened natural resource in more and more places around the world.

    • Freshwater

  • Trade in 'virtual water'

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  • tons
  • globally, this year

    • You use more water than you think

    Water is used in the production process of many products. Such water is called “virtual water”. As products are traded between countries, so is the water used in those products. This virtual water-trade reaches about 1,300 square kilometers per year.

    Product water footprints

    On average, it takes 24,000 liters of water to produce 1 kilo of chocolate. Similarly, 1 kilo of beef takes 15,500 liters of water, 1 cup of coffee takes 140 liters, 1 cotton shirt takes 2,700 liters, 1 sheet of paper takes 10 liters, and 1 glass of wine takes 120 liters.

    We use water from all over the world

    Some countries import more than 80 percent of their water through the products they consume.

    You can make a difference

    Changing what we eat to less water intensive products can have enormous impacts on water use. To illustrate: Replacing half the meat eaten in the USA with vegetables can lower the country's annual water use by 256 square kilometers - enough water to fill the empire state building 28 times every hour.

    You can make a difference

    …this would free up enough water to provide healthy diets for almost 400 million people; nearly 25 percent of the expected population increase in the developing world by 2025.

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