"We must take account of how our water footprint is impacting on the rest of the world,"
- Professor Roger Falconer, director of the Hydro-Environmental Research Centre at Cardiff University.
We consume 145 litres of water a day which is enough to fill a large bath tub. Plus nearly everything we uses water. Everything from our jeans to our beer is made using water. 10,850 litres of water to be exact! 2 and half months worth of baths is how much water goes into making a pair of jeans, that you’ll wear a handful of times. And 2,700 litres goes into making a t-shirt.
Why is this a problem? Because the jeans and t-shirts that we wear come from developing countries that are running low on water resources. Some people in developing countries don’t even have access to clean running water, yet the countries are exporting large amounts of water out of their lands into ours and other developed countries, through goods like coffee, food, and clothes.
What we have to think about is what effect will this have in the future?
According to the BBC website “The world's population is expected to rocket beyond 8bn in 20 years time and the global demand for food and energy is going to jump by 50%, with the need for fresh water rising by 30%”
Are we going to have enough water left? Are people in developing countries who aren’t wearing jeans and t-shirts going to have to pay a price for our “Had to buy that” shopping habits?
A BBC report says “Developing countries are already using up significant proportions of their water to grow food and produce goods for consumption in the West”
This is why it is important to realise where our clothes are coming from and how they are being made. The more resources we use now the less we will have in the future.
Just think if we bought a pair of jeans to match every new trend how much water we would be depriving a developing country of and more importantly, jeopardising our own futures.
Help cut down on water usage by buying according to what you need, not what you want!
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