Result: between 1996 and 2005, 9,087 billion cubic meters of water were consumed annually across th

More than a fifth of the water consumed on the planet is engulfed by products intended for export. And important kind of water-intensive goods, developed countries are increasing pressures on fragile bolton manitoba spa areas often lack conservation policies of this scarce resource. These are the findings of a study, published Monday, February 13 in the Proceedings of the National academy of sciences, which models the flow of water around the globe and highlights the disparities in use.
From trading indicators, demographics and statistics on the use of water, groundwater, surface but also rain and the recycled University research team of Twente in the Netherlands quantified and mapped the global water footprint to a very fine geographic scale.
Result: between 1996 and 2005, 9,087 billion cubic meters of water were consumed annually across the globe. Agriculture has engulfed 92%, mainly due to intensive irrigation of grains such as corn, wheat or rice (27% of fresh water use), as well as meat production ( 22%) and dairy products (7%).
The United States, which account for only 5% of the world population, are the third largest consumer of fresh water (1,053 billion m3 per year), after the much more populous China (1 207 billion m 3) India (1 182 billion m 3). Reduced per capita US consumption of water amounts to 2842 m 3 yearly, against 1 089 m 3 for China, bolton manitoba spa 1071 m 3 in India and 1 385 m 3 in global average, as the map shows water consumption in each country per year per capita:
Beyond the direct water consumption for domestic or agricultural use, the heart of the problem revolves around the concept of virtual water, that is to say, the amount of water used to produce a well consumption. About a fifth of the water consumed in the world is so virtual water, exchanged between countries in the form of agricultural and industrial products.
This is particularly the case of food products. A kilo of beef requires 15,500 liters and water, a kilo of pork, 4,900 liters, chicken, 4,000 liters cheese 4900 liters and rice, 3,000 liters. In the important consumer countries outsource both food production but also environmental and economic risks that may result from overuse bolton manitoba spa of scarce water reserves.
This map shows the net virtual water imports and direction of the main flow (more than 15 billion m 3 per year), related to trade in agricultural and industrial products between 1996 and 2005:
The countries most dependent on these resources are, as expected, the islands and desert regions: Malta, which depends on 92% of virtual water, Kuwait (90%), bolton manitoba spa Jordan bolton manitoba spa (86% ) and Israel (82%). But some of the countries with the largest water resources in the world also import large quantities of blue gold. The champion of consumption is the US, which imports 234 billion m 3 annually. After Japan, which imports 127 billion m 3, Germany (125), China (121), Italy (101), Mexico (92) and France (78).
On the other side of the scale, countries that export the most virtual water is the United bolton manitoba spa States with 314 billion m3 per year more than compensates for its imports, China (143 billion m 3 year), India (125) and Brazil (112).
In the end, the authors of the study, Hoekstra and Mesfin Mekonnen, do not provide direct solutions to reduce water consumption, virtual or not. They argue that most accurately map of humanity's water footprint enables States to know the risks of dependency they then incur the reduction bolton manitoba spa of resources becomes an international concern.
Τα Πάντα ῥεῖ as said another. And fortunately, thanks to universal gravitation, water remains on earth. It is inexhaustible. Stop trying to scare us ...
Chemically so, nothing is lost, nothing is created. But at our level of water consumed can become inedible and this is the most dangerous. Drinking water is exhaustible.
While it remains on earth, but what state and what steps it is immediately reusable? Also I don not have the impression that the population decline, so yes you have to be scared.
Less than 1% of the water on Earth is potable. We must also take into account the water pollution. Inexhaustible, say, but with what division and what quality? Question that is not meant to scare but to challenge the global trading system, bolton manitoba spa inégali