Virtual Water Content

Table VWC2. Virtual Water Content (Global Average – Selected Products)

Notes:
1. Based on figures suggested by the vegetarian author John Robbins.
2. Ibid.
3. Other research suggest virtual water content of 500 liters (L) per 1kg of potatoes.
4. Other research suggest virtual water content of 100,000L per 1kg of corn-fed beef.
5. The suggested virtual water content for wool may be too high.
6. Virtual water content for biodiesel as quoted by Nestle SA Chief Executive, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, in his speech at Davos 2008.

References:
– Hoekstra, A. Y. and Chapagain, A. K. 2005. Water footprints of nations: Water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern [online.] Referenced 2008 February 5. URL: http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Hoekstra_and_Chapagain_2006.pdf
– Shiklomanov, I.A. and Rodda, J.C. 2003. World Water Resources at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
– Shiklomanov, I.A. 1993. World fresh water resources. In Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World’s Fresh Water Resources. P. Gleick (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.