What a Waste!

I was going through my lecture notes acquired during my MSc programme in Delft. I stumbled on these bizarre water facts. Incidentally, I’m presently working on an article which seeks to examine how we can manage the impending energy crisis and at large, avoid a looming world ecosystem crash. This is true whether you are a ‘green’ person or not. I promise to post the article on these pages as soon as I’m done. Meanwhile, enjoy (or better still, endure) these shocking realities - they are not exaggerations:


 Less than 1% of the total water available on the earth can be used for human consumption.
 99.9% of fresh water is contained in the polar ice caps.
 50 litres of water are needed to grow a kilo of spinach.
 50 kilos of water are required to produce a litre of whisky.
 4.5 to 35 litres of water are required to produce 1 litre of beer (Siebel, M.A.).
 250 litres of water are needed to produce a kilo of wheat.
 250 kilos of water are needed to produce a kilo of steel.
 18,000 litres of water are required to refine a ton of petroleum.
 25,000 litres of water are needed to produce a kilo of meat.
 200,000 litres of water are required to smelt a ton of pig iron.
 500,000 litres of water are required to smelt a ton of copper.
 3,000,000 litres of water are required to grow a hectare of corn.
 More than 3,000,000 litres of water are required every minute in a 1-million kW atomic power station.
 4,000,000 litres of water are needed to produce a ton of synthetic fibre.
 8,000,000 litres of water are needed to grow a hectare of cabbage.
 12,000,000 to 20,000,000 litres of water are needed to grow a hectare of rice.

Source:
R.J. Sinka, Indira Ghandi Centre for Human Ecology, Environmental and Population Studies, India.

Comments are welcome.