embedded water

Embedded water is an essential part of our daily lives. Embedded water is in many things that one would not expect such as, burgers, clothing, wine, and hydropower just to name a few. According to National Geographic one pound of beef uses 1,799 gallons of water. To break that number down as to where the water is going 6.6 pounds of grain for feed including irrigation water, 36.2 pounds of roughage or grasses for feed, including irrigation water, and 18.6 gallons of additional water for consuming and processing. Embedded water is essentially water used to produce food and non-food products. About 65% of the water we consume is in our food. If our world continues the present level of consumption it is said to believe that two thirds of the global population will live in areas of water stress by 2025.  According to http://www.angelamorelli.com/water/ the average person eats 3,496 liters of water a day. The average domestic consumption consist of 137 liters a day, this is the water people use in their homes for  cleaning which equates to 5%, cooking and drinking stands at 10%, laundry 20%, flushing the toilet 30% and bathing 35%.   We consume both visible and invisible water, and the visible is just a small percentage of our overall consumption. Our invisible part of consumption is around 167 liters a day. The first invisible water aspect is used for the industrial production of things that we use every day and the second is associated with the food we consume. All of these together amounts to 3496 liters per day which means 92% of the water we use are invisible.

Embedded water is also known as virtual water. According to http://21stcenturychallenges.org/what-is-virtual-water/  embedded or virtual water is defined as “the total volume of water needed to produce and process a commodity or service.”  An important factor in virtual water is that of global trade. The global trade in goods has allowed for countries with limited access to water resources to rely on the water resources in other countries to meet the need of their citizens. With trade happening internationally, their water footprint follows them. The water footprint as said by http://www.gdrc.org/uem/footprints/water-footprint.html “is the volume of the water used.” This is important because as nations work toward securing food, water, energy and other essential inputs for peoples well-being, livelihoods  and the country’s economic  development, most countries rely on imports as well as exports of goods and services. A country may aim to be self-sufficient by relying primarily on goods that can be produced within its borders. Or a country may choose to reduce the burden on the natural resources within its borders by importing water intensive products. Virtual water helps us understand the dependencies our economies have on others resources.

There are many ways to save water, and many things that people can do to make changes. Every day people are wasting tons of water in all different settings. We can start asking for providers to give us information about the amount of water that is embedded in goods. If we made simple changes in our lives we could save a large amount of water each day. We must start thinking about how much we really rely on this finite and shared resource.