South Africa braces for water crisis

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-11-06-worlds-water-dries-up

Each American consumes 6 800 litres a day, compared to 2 500 litres in South Africa.

Heavy past investment in water infrastructure, such as dams, had saved South Africa from having to tackle water scarcity. Climate change, however, will prevent dams from filling up.

Other factoids:

l Meat, milk, leather and other livestock products account for 23% of global water use in agriculture. The industry uses up to 1 150 litres of water per person per day.

l Wearing a cotton T-shirt today? It took 2 900 litres to produce it — and that’s before you’ve put it in the washing machine. About 3,7% of the world’s water used for crop cultivation goes on cotton.

l The average person uses 70g of sugar per day, equivalent to 100 litres of water. Cane sugar consumes 3,4% of the water used for crops worldwide.

l It takes 75 litres of water to produce a 250ml glass of beer — most of it used in growing the barley.