Here鈥檚 another good reason for everyone to become a vegetarian. If this happened in the UK, Germany or France, it would slash the amount of water required to make food in each of these countries by between 33 and 55 per cent, a new analysis has concluded.
The reason for the projected reductions is the colossal amount of water for producing meat 鈥� typically 15,000 litres per kilogram of beef, for example, versus 1000 litres for a kilogram of grain.
Everyone switching to pescatarianism 鈥� eating fish but not other forms of meat 鈥� would have the same dramatic effect as vegetarianism. And even for inveterate meat-eaters there is hope. Switching to a diet that鈥檚 healthier but contains less meat would reduce food鈥檚 current water footprint by up to a third, the researchers calculate.
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鈥淲e show that switching to a healthy diet is not only good for human health, but also saves a lot of water resources,鈥� says Davy Vanham of the European Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy, and head of the analysis. 鈥淥ur scenarios assume that the whole population within a geographical country or region shifts to a healthy-diet, with current food consumption as a baseline.鈥�
Healthy switch
Vanham鈥檚 team estimated the impact of switching to healthier diets in almost 44,000 regions within the countries, such as municipalities in France, or counties and districts in the UK. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the most detailed nationwide assessment of water footprints related to food consumption ever made,鈥� he says.
First, Vanham鈥檚 team obtained baseline data on current consumption levels. People in France get through the equivalent of between 3303 and 5149 litres of water per person per day, versus 2748 to 3008 litres in Germany and 2474 to 2942 litres in the UK. The global average is 3167 litres per person daily.
Higher meat and wine consumption explains the heftier French footprint. Almost 40 per cent of the French footprint is accounted for by meat. France鈥檚 footprint was also inflated by the gallic love of wine over the beer favoured in Germany and the UK. It takes 732 litres to make a kilogram of wine, almost seven times more than the 111 litres to make a kilo of beer. This led to daily booze-related water footprints of 51 and 73 litres per person in the UK and Germany respectively, versus 104 litres in France.
One million litres
Next, Vanham鈥檚 team calculated how universal healthy eating would change the current picture. They concluded that switching to vegetarianism or pescatarianism would reduce food鈥檚 water footprint by 33 to 55 per cent. Some people in France could reduce their water footprint by 2770 litres per day 鈥� over a million litres per year.
Switching to a 鈥渉ealthy meat鈥� diet would reduce it by 11 to 35 per cent. The biggest impacts of going healthy were seen in large cities, including London, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.
鈥淭he study strengthens the mounting evidence that eating less meat is the most effective way to save water,鈥� says Arjen Hoekstra of the University of Twente in the Netherlands, and pioneer of the water footprint concept. 鈥淓ating less meat is also consistent with health guidelines, so it鈥檚 a win-win situation,鈥� he says.
Vanham agrees. He says the current data show that in all three countries, people eat too much sugar, oils, fats and red meat. Britons and Germans don鈥檛 eat enough fish, fruit or vegetables, and drink too much alcohol. One result is that 27 per cent of Britons are now obese, compared with 21 and 22 per cent respectively in Germany and France.
Vanham says that the detailed breakdown on current and projected consumption levels within cities could be used by mayors to focus healthy eating campaigns where diets are worst.
Nature Sustainability
