The average tangible consumption of water per German inhabitant is 125 litres daily. It is composed of shower, toilet flushing, laundry, drinking etc.
However there is also the virtual water consumption. Per head it is markedly higher than the tangible consumption: 40 times as high. On the average these are 4.000 litres daily!
But what is virtual water in general? All things we consume spend water in their production. Virtual water contains e. g. existing rainfall in agriculture and artificial irrigation of fields just as drinking water for cattle. Moreover it contains the consumption at the industrial production – e. g. for cleaning processes or the drive of machines.
How much virtual water do I spend only considering my daily food consumption?
Keeping a diet diary for a day I ascertain how much virtual water I spend for each meal.
I want to bring the amount of virtual water in relation with comparable common things. Therefore I choose the shower as a new unit of measurement.
How many people would I need to invite to use my shower (at an average water consumption of 53 litres per head) that they use exactly as much water as my daily food consumption does?
At the end of the day my virtual water footprint amounts to about 4.240 litres – or just as much water as 80 people would spend using my shower.
Plakatentwürfe für den Anfachen Award 2020
