10.31.07
And, speaking of water, how much does the US use?
2,500 – … [US water usage], in cubic meters per capita, according to Waterfootprint.org.
660,430 – the equivalent in US gallons per person per year. Compare that to 700 cubic meters per year per capita (184,920 gallons) in China and 1150 cubic meters per year per capita (303,798 gallons) in Japan.
According to the site, “The water footprint of a nation shows the total volume of water that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the nation. Since not all goods consumed in one particular country are produced in that country, the water footprint consists of two parts: use of domestic water resources and use of water outside the borders of the country. The water footprint includes both the water withdrawn from surface and groundwater and the use of soil water (in agricultural production).” ::Water Footprint
From that last link, and noting that a country’s use of water can include water outside the country when you consider imports consumed in the country—for example, the coffee consumed in the US requires a substantial amount of water, and this water is counted as part of the US’s water footprint:
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.
If this topic interests you, here’s a very thorough report (PDF file) on the water usage of various nations.
