Some Interesting Statistics on Our Water Use in North America…
thealiennextdoor
Feb. 9, 2025, 4:23 p.m.
Wild apple tree in Kawarthas, ON (photo by Nina Munteanu)
We don’t normally think of eating or wearing water. But that’s exactly what we’re doing when we bite into an apple (which uses 125 litres of water) or put on our favourite pair of jeans (which uses more than 7,600 litres of water to make a single pair).
When we think of the water footprint we are making as individuals and as a community, the use of what’s called “virtual water” needs to be factored in. This is the water used to make the things we buy like clothes, cellphones, electricity, and food.
When we buy these things we are buying water.
This is our actual “water footprint.”
In his book Your Water Footprint, Stephen Leahy tells us that Americans use around 378 litres of water every day for showers, toilet use, washing, cooking and drinking. The virtual water that Americans eat, wear and use during a day averages 7,500 litres. Together, these add up to almost 8,000 litres per person per day; which is twice the global average.
Let’s look at some more statistics…
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Hidden Use of Water (Virtual Water)
How much water is used to make one cup of coffee? We don’t think of how much water is used in the growth, preparation of coffee crops and shipping of coffee beans to virtually make up that one cup of water that the barista pours over the ground coffee beans at your favourite café. That actual water footprint amount is 140 litres of water for one cup of coffee.
One cup of tea uses only 35 litres of water in the process of getting tea to your favourite tea shop.
Barista making a flat white, Krave Coffee Bar, Toronto (photo by Nina Munteanu)
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When you buy a cheeseburger, you are also buying 2,400 litres of water used to make that burger. Most of the water is used in producing the beef, which has a water footprint of over 15,000 litres for every 1-kilogram portion.
The production of one integrated circuit board measuring 30 cm requires 4,165 litres of ultra pure water. It takes a lot of water to make microchips. Silicon semiconductors with integrated circuits must be scrubbed free of debris with the cleanest water. Cellphones and smartphones use water throughout their production process: starting with creating the microchips; mining the metals used in the batteries; polishing the silica glass used in their touch screens.
A single pair of leather shoes, which includes the water footprint of the cow, and the tanning process, makes a total water footprint of 8,000 litres of water. This is not to mention the true extent and persistence of toxic endocrine disrupting effluent produced in the tanning process. According to Kumar et al. (2008) wastewater from the leather industry is considered one of the ten most harmful industrial effluents to the environment.
My favourite leather boots, Ontario marsh (photo by Nina Munteanu)
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“Saving water at home is good, but since 86% of humanity’s water’s footprint is not within people’s homes but in making food, natural fibers, oils and energy, it is crucial to consider what you buy as well.”
Professor Arjen Hoekstra
Household Use of Water
Canadian average daily use of water by province (Leahy, 2014)
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Canadians on average use 274 litres of water daily.
Americans on average use 378 litres of water daily. Highest water users are the dry mountain and western states of Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah. Lowest daily water consumers include the northeastern states that includes mostly New England states.
Average daily water use of Americans with five highest and five lowest users by state (Leahy, 2014)
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Thirty percent of daily household water consumption is spent flushing the toilet. The average domestic toilet gets flushed five times a day per person. Standard toilets use 16 to 23 litres of water per flush; High efficiency toilets use as little as 3.75 litres per flush. In most of North America, this water is also high quality drinking water.
Average Household water consumption in North America (Leahy, 2014)
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Recreational Use of Water
Keeping the world’s golf courses lush and green takes an estimated 9.4 billion litres of water daily. One round of golf uses 8,000 litres of water to maintain the course. I’m told that turf grasses on a golf course have very little capacity to store water, requiring an average of 65-150 cm of water annually to stay healthy and green. Keeping 30 hectares of turf healthy in a dry climate can consume up to 432 million litres of water annually.
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Who’s Running Out of Water?
Top Ten cities at risk of water shortage in USA (Leahy, 2014)
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Some of America’s largest cities are in danger of running out of water due to a combination of drought, population growth and increasing waste (e.g. watering lawns and keeping swimming pools in dessert areas), and industrial use. San Antonio and Orlando both face immediate shortages. Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Atlanta have all experienced water shortages and will continue to do so. Houston and Tucson have the highest risk of water shortage.
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What This All Amounts To
Anderson Lake, British Columbia (photo by Michael Arbeider)
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Just so you are clear; when I talk about water footprint, I am talking about water use, how much is used in a process. The Water Footprint Network defines water footprint as “a measure of humanity’s appropriation of freshwater in volumes of water consumed and/or polluted.” It includes direct and indirect water use of a process, product, company or sector and takes into account water consumption and pollution throughout the full production cycle from the supply chain to the end-user. Essentially, it measures the amount of water required to produce all the goods and services consumed by an individual, community, nation or world.
This does not, in my opinion, realistically define the true impact to water itself and its associated community once the water is used and/or polluted. Water contaminated by persistent and bioaccumulating toxic waste is different from water polluted by organic or nutrient enrichment or water that is diverted and heated in a turbine. These differ: 1) in impact, 2) by ecosystem, and 3) how they need to be treated to return the water—and its direct and associated ecosystems—to its previous pristine state—if that is even possible. In some cases it isn’t. See my article on DuPont’s egregious contamination of drinking water with forever chemicals (PFOA, PFAS), now in concentrations that exceed US EPA drinking water levels in rainwater globally. Some footprints are deeper than others…
So, what is the actual cost?
We tend to use an anthropocentric user-perspective for all aspects of the environment in which we live. We measure cost to us as users (short term and direct) over environmental cost (long-term and indirect). This usually means ignoring the precautionary principle and focusing on avoiding Type II errors (risk of false negative impact to environment) over Type 1 errors (risk of false positive impact) in environmental risk management.
How do we even account for the subtle, long-term chronic costs to water ecosystems and beyond?
“Filthy water cannot be washed.”
West African proverb
Beaver Lake, Vancouver, BC (photo by Kevin Klassen)
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References:
Kumar, V. et al. 2008. “Effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals from leather industry effluents on male reproductive system.” J. Steroid Biochem. Mol. Biol. 3(3-5): 208-216.
Leahy, Stephen. 2014. “Your Water Footprint” Firefly Books, Buffalo, NY. 143pp.
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Nina Munteanu is a Canadian ecologist / limnologist and novelist. She is co-editor of Europa SF and currently teaches writing courses at George Brown College and the University of Toronto. Visit www.ninamunteanu.ca for the latest on her books. Nina’s bilingual “La natura dell’acqua / The Way of Water” was published by Mincione Edizioni in Rome. Her non-fiction book “Water Is…” by Pixl Press(Vancouver) was selected by Margaret Atwood in the New York Times ‘Year in Reading’ and was chosen as the 2017 Summer Read by Water Canada. Her novel “A Diary in the Age of Water” was released by Inanna Publications (Toronto) in June 2020.
