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How much WATER (in Gallons) is used to produce 1 pound of beef, 1 pound of chicken, and 1 pound of pork for retail consumption?
Hello! Thanks for your question about how much water (in Gallons) is used to produce 1 pound of beef, 1 pound of chicken, and 1 pound of pork for retail consumption. The short version is that 1 pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water, 1 pound of chicken requires 468 gallons of water, and 1 pound of pork requires 576 gallons of water for retail consumption. Below you will find a deep dive of our findings.
METHODOLOGY
In order to determine the required information, we focused our research on finding quantifying data from the latest reports. The methodology of calculation, however, was found to be recorded in older studies and accounts. Academic databases, industry reports, government reports/databases and trusted media sites were reviewed. We found the Water Network sources detailing the water footprints, which are calculated for products used in the retail industry, to be extremely useful.
FINDINGS
With the reducing amount of availability of freshwater in the environment, it has become imperative for various industries, especially the retail industry, to analyze the water footprints for their many products. By definition, water footprint (green water footprint, blue water footprint, gray water footprint) is the measure of the amount of water used in the production of goods and services. A report by the Los Angeles Times provided a list of common products and their water footprint (in gallons).
The water footprint for beef products varies with the many raising conditions of the animal. In general, the value provided by the Los Angeles Times report is based on the amount of water needed to grow grain, forage, and roughage to feed the cow, amount of water needed for drinking and amount of water needed for its maintenance, processing and packaging. It takes up approximately 93% of green water footprint (water from precipitation stored in soil), 4% of blue water footprint (water from surface and groundwater) and 3% of gray water footprint (fresh water that is needed to ‘assimilate’ pollutants).
The water footprint of chicken includes the water needed for the chicken to drink, the maintenance of the chicken house, water required to grow the feed and the water needed for processing and packaging.
The water footprint of pork includes the water used for feeding, drinking and the various slaughterhouse and packaging processes.
The water footprint of different products for retail consumption varies across countries since each country has its own production system. Water footprints for most animal products in the U. S is found to be more than the products in the Netherlands and much less than the products in India.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, 1 pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water, 1 pound of chicken requires 468 gallons of water, and 1 pound of pork requires 576 gallons of water for retail consumption.
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