How much water does it take to make food and beverages or common household items? Read on to find out.
How Much Water Does it Take to Make a Hamburger?
Here is a list of the water footprint of some common food products and consumer goods.
The list of foods reflect a typical day in a typical American diet. Many Americans eat a lot of animal products but they probably don’t realize how much water it takes to make meat and dairy products.
The common consumer products in this list are items that you might use every day; however, you might not realize that it takes a lot of water to make those products. For example, denim water use is high because cotton requires a lot of irrigation water, and smart phones take a lot of water because metals have to be mined and refined, both of which take a lot of water.
Download a [PDF] of this list.
Table 1. Food Products
| Steak (beef) | 6 ounces | 674 gallons |
| Hamburger | 1 (includes bread, meat, lettuce, tomato) | 660 gallons |
| Ham (pork) | 3 ounces | 135 gallons |
| Eggs | 1 egg | 52 gallons |
| Soda | 17 ounces | 46 gallons |
| Coffee | 1 cup | 34 gallons |
| Wine | 1 glass | 34 gallons |
| Salad | 1 (includes tomato, lettuce, cucumbers | 21 gallons |
Table 2. Consumer Goods
| Car | 13,737 – 21,926 gallons |
| Leather Shoes | 3,626 gallons |
| Smart phone (mobile) | 3,190 gallons |
| Bed Sheet (cotton) | 2,839 gallons |
| Jeans (cotton) | 2,108 gallons |
| T-shirt (cotton) | 659 gallons |
You can learn more about the water footprint of crops and animal products at the Water Footprint Network.