Water Footprint?

In a recent article by National Geographic, I learned that the average American household is fueled by 2000 gallons of water a day. The surprising part is, the obvious suspects here such as dishwashers, showers and lawns only make up 5% of this amount. The rest comes from factors we generally don't see and therefore fail to consider.

I took this fun, 10 minute Water Footprint quiz about my lifestyle that measured the water I consume. If you take the quiz, some of the questions might startle you as they did me, as you realize that the number one culprit in water consumption is our food system.

I consider myself an occasional meat eater. I put down on average a modest estimate of twice a week consumption of pork, beef, and chicken, with very little dairy. (This is far below the national average of 6-7 weekly servings of each.) My lifestyle equated to about 1130 gallons of water a day, which is far below the national average of 2000; yet even still, my diet constituted 65% of my Water Footprint.

Surely there is something we all can do to be a little better at conserving one of our most precious resources. Check out the quiz and see how well you fare in comparison, or try this list of the amount of water it takes to create popular, common commodities.