The Water Footprint Network has released their Water Footprint Manual. The cover of the manual states  “People use lots of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but even more for producing things such as food, paper, cotton clothes, etc. The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer.”

Here are a few examples of water usage that may surprise you:

• The production of one kilogram of beef requires 16 thousand litres of water.
• To produce one cup of coffee we need 140 litres of water.
• The water footprint of China is about 700 cubic meter per year per capita. Only about 7% of the Chinese water footprint falls outside China.
• Japan with a footprint of 1150 cubic meter per year per capita, has about 65% of its total water footprint outside the borders of the country.
• The USA water footprint is 2500 cubic meter per year per capita.

To peruse the newly released manual go to  the Water Footprint Network website.