It takes a lot of water to produce the foods we love. To sustain a caloric intake of 2,000 calories per day for a year would take 73,000 gallons of water on an all-potato diet, and 2.1 million gallons if consuming nothing but ground beef. The classic meat and potato combo? 1.1 million gallons of water.
How much water is used to make the ingredients for an all-American cheeseburger and fries, and what do we get when we eat it? (Nutrition and water usage information given is for 100 grams of each food. Water usage figures are worldwide averages and vary considerably based on climate, soils, irrigation methods and crop genetics.)
Check out the newest edition of Headwaters magazine to learn more about the water used to produce food in Colorado.
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