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Water - Motivating Data
The planet's total amount of water: About 1,400,000,000 ㎦
The amount of freshwater that people can actually use: 90,000 ㎦
You rely on that 0.07%.
Your Water Footprint
A cup of coffee: 140 ℓ
One liter of milk: 1,000 ℓ
One hamburger: 2,500 ℓ
Do you know that
you've just left a footprint of 3,640 ℓ with these?
Oops!
Adding up the 10 sheets of A4-size paper you've used,
you have just consumed a total of 3,750 ℓ of "virtual water!"
Virtual Water
A concept made in the 1980s by Tony Allan, a professor of King's College London.
Virtual water, the total amount of water consumed in the production of an item.
A cup of coffee contains
water used in planting a coffee tree and in harvesting and roasting the coffee beans,
which adds up to 140 ℓ!
One kilogram of wheat = 1,300 ℓ One kilogram of rice = 3,400 ℓ
A T-shirt = 4,000 ℓ A pair of blue jeans = 12,000 ℓ
- 2006, Institute for Social-Ecological Research in Germany
However
"Numeric values of virtual water aren't enough to show its impact on the environment.
We must understand how to use water in different regions."
-Brad Ridoutt, Australian water conservation specialist
When a multinational company in India produces one liter of coke,
it consumes nine liters of local water.
The level of groundwater has declined by 100 m in just a few decades.
In the area, 260 wells dried up, and rice yields decreased by 10%.
"The problem is that virtual water could further enhance the inequality
between countries in terms of water use." - UNESCO-IHE
In 2007, UNESCO-IHE released its research on each country's water footprint.
Water footprint map:
An index incorporating the concept of virtual water to show each country's harm on the environment.
But the map changes when virtual water imports are applied.
The annual amount of virtual water imported and used by a Korean
equals to a half of an international standard pool.
Korea, the world's fifth largest virtual water importer.