WHEN THE TANK IS RUNNING DRYThe growth of the world’s livestock industry will worsen the overuse of rivers andlakes. It’s not that animals are particularly thirsty; but a lot of water is needed togrow the fodder they eat, and dung from factory farms pollutes the groundwaterwith nitrates and antibiotic residues.2.5 billionpeople alreadylive in areassubject to waterstressConsumption of the world’s most importantform of sustenance – fresh water – has increasedeightfold over the past century. Itcontinues to increase at more than double therate of human population growth. As a result,one-third of humanity does not have enoughwater, and 1.1 billion people have no access toclean drinking water. Lakes, rivers, and oceansare pumped full of nutrients and pollutants.At the same time, the water table is droppingdramatically in many parts of the world. Bigrivers, such as the Colorado in the United Statesand the Yellow River in China, no longer reachthe sea for months because so much of their waterhas been extracted. Water consumption continuesto rise as the world population grows. Withouta limit to consumption, the supply of watermay collapse.The biggest water user, and the main cause ofthe global water crisis, is agriculture. It consumes70 percent of the world’s available freshwater,while households (10 percent) and industry (20percent) make do with a lot less. One-third of agriculture’sshare goes into raising livestock. This isnot because cows, pigs and chickens are especiallythirsty, it is because they consume water indirectly,as feed.It takes 15,500 litres (15.5 cubic metres) of waterto produce just one kilogram of beef, accordingto a WWF study. A small swimming pool full of waterfor four steaks? A surprising amount, until welook at what a cow eats during its lifetime: 1,300kilograms of grain and 7,200 kilograms of forage.It takes a lot of water to grow all this fodder. Addto that 24 cubic metres of drinking water and 7 cubicmetres for stall cleaning per animal. The bottomline is that to produce one kilogram of beef,one needs 6.5 kilograms of grain, 36 kilograms ofroughage, and 15,500 liters of water.Statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations are just as impressive.Producing 1,000 calories of food in theform of cereals takes about half a cubic metre ofwater. Producing the same number of calories asmeat takes four cubic metres; for dairy products,6 cubic metres. And these are average figures. Rememberthough, that not all cows are equal: anintensively raised cow uses a lot more water thanone that is put outside to graze. And around theworld, more and more animals are being kept indoorsrather than outside.The effect of livestock on water is not limited toconsumption. Water pollution caused by nitratesand phosphorus from manure and fertilizers area big problem for the livestock industry. In manyareas, over-fertilization is a bigger problem thana lack of fertilizer. Plants cannot absorb the nutrientsthat percolate down into the soil, and endup in groundwater as well as in rivers and lakes.Nitrates in groundwater often end up in wellsand springs. If the authorities check nitrate levels,people can avoid drinking it, but such checks doMoisture extraction for food, fodder and fibre productionHoekstra/MekonnenMillimetres per year0–1010–100100–500> 50028MEAT ATLAS
Water used for meat production in G20 countries2,0001,5001,0005000Most important developed and developing countries,cubic metres used per person per yearSouth Koreanot take place in many areas. Further problemsinclude contamination by antibiotics from thelarge amounts of drugs used in factory farms, andthe lowering of the water table in much of Asia becauseof pumping from wells. Dry wells have to bedeepened, and they may tap into rocks that havea high content of fluoride and arsenic; substancesthat can harm both people and animals.If meat consumption continues to rise rapidly,the amount of water needed to grow animal feedwill double by the middle of this century, accordingto the Worldwatch Institute. Human populationgrowth alone means we have to find ways touse water more economically, because the sameamount of water will have to go around for morepeople. Global warming through climate changeis likely to reduce water availability further. Itis questionable whether we should continue topump an ever scarcer resource into the raisingof livestock . Some 2.5 billion people already livein areas subject to water stress; by 2025, it will beover half of humanity, and conflicts over water areexpected to become more acute.A thirsty industryChinaIndiaUnited KingdomJapanWater use by Nippon Ham, the world’s 6th-largestmeat company, 2011, 100 percent = 12.5 million m 332food plantsfresh meatprocessing plants1.59.756.8Germanylivestock breedingfacilities and feedlotsotherIndonesiaNippon HamSouth AfricaArgentinaTurkeyVirtual waterFranceRussiaMexicoSaudi ArabiaCanadaBrazilIt takes this much water to produce 1 kilogram or 1 litre of:beefcheesericeeggssugarwheatmilkapplesbeerpotatoestomatoescarrots15,455 L5,000 L3,400 L3,300 L1,500 L1,300 L1,000 L700 L300 L255 L184 L131 LItalyAustraliaUSAworld average1 bathtub contains about140 litres of waterwaterfootprint.org Hoekstra/MekonnenMEAT ATLAS29
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