USES OF WATER

The average person in Britain uses about 104 litres of domestic water each day-but only drinks about 4 litres. The rest goes on cooking, washing and flushing.

Domestic water use is only one element of our total daily water consumption. Water is used in all our food and to produce everything from clothes to cars. It takes 11,000 litres of water to make a pair of jeans and 400,000 litres of water to produce a car.

Across the globe a child dies every 15 seconds from water-related diseases.

Our one-billion people live without a safe and reliable water supply.

Average daily water use per person in litres:
Ethiopia: 5
Democratic Republic of Congo: 11
Nigeria: 30
Cote D’ivoire: 33
Kenya: 41
UK: 104
South Africa: 156
USA: 595


By 2005 it is expected that 3.4 billion people will be living in countries defined as water-scarce.

Over the next 30 yrs the 70 per cent increase in cereal production will come from irrigated land.

Since 1950 the world population has doubled while water consumption has increased six-fold.

In developing countries, more than 90 per cent of sewage and 70 per cent of industrial wastewater is dumped untreated into surface water.

Wastewater is used widely in developing countries for irrigation-often poured directly on the land, exposing farmers and consumers to parasites and harmful chemicals.

HOW MUCH WATER DOES IT TAKE?
It takes 35 litres to produce a cup of tea.

It takes 4,100 litres to produce a cotton T-Shirt.

It takes 70 litres to produce an apple.

It takes 170 litres to produce a Kg. of wheat.

It takes 170 litres to produce a glass of orange juice.

In developing countries a daily bowl of rice requires 1 litre to cook it but 340 litres to grow it.
(DFID)

USES OF WATER