Summarize carried an article of the Evening Courier, the values for water we consume daily, not only that but we drink all that used to make products that normally use.
Every time we drink a glass of wine consumed 120 liters of water. If we eat an egg, 135 liters. To wear a cotton T-shirt we used 2 000. And if we order a burger for lunch from 150 grams, we know that it is "side" 2,400 liters. Possible? The answer could be intuitive. Just think of how much water was used to irrigate the vines, to grow chickens, to grow cotton and to feed and quench a beef slaughtered at the age of three years.
Water "virtual"
It is the new scientific perspective presented by the WWF during the World Water Week which ended a few days ago in Stockholm. Objective: to report the use of the water consumption by people. Experts speak of "virtual water", that hidden in food, clothes and services. Every Italian uses on average 215 liters of water to the actual day, for drinking and bathing, but the consumption is 30 times higher if we include the virtual water used to produce what we eat and wear. Are more than 6,500 liters each, every day. The highest in the world after the United States. And only 30 percent of that water comes from Italian resources. The majority (70 percent) comes from abroad, built-in products that travel on the routes of international trade. Our country is the fifth largest importer of water on earth.
The water 'transported'
Let meat steaks. An average cow lives three years before being slaughtered for about 200 pounds of meat. In those three years but the animal has consumed 1,300 pounds of wheat, corn and soybeans, plus 7,200 pounds of fiber, pastures and hay. It will have 24 cubic meters of drinking water. And 7 more cubic meters will be used for hygiene and livestock services. On balance, in a pound of beef are "hidden" 15,500 liters of water. We then suggested that the animal is bred in Argentina and then sold in the Italian butchers. All the water that those steaks bring with them across the ocean is virtually imported. 'Many products we consume every day, said Michele Candotti, CEO of WWF Italy - come from areas of the world where water resources are already in crisis. " The only countries that import more water in Italy are Brazil, Mexico, Japan and China. Carriers transport more important agricultural products, particularly rice, wheat and maize.
The 'blue gold'
Scientists chose the word 'footprint' of a country to define the volume of water needed to produce goods and services consumed by the inhabitants. Depends on four basic factors: quantity and type of consumption, climate, agricultural techniques. To take but one example: a vegetarian diet involves a consumption of 2,000 liters of virtual water a day, but if we eat meat you can get to 5000 liters per day. According to the research Water Footprints of Nations (2007), every Italian uses 2332 cubic meters of water per year (equivalent to 2 million and 332 thousand liters). On our level, Spain and Greece. In front there are only the United States (2,483 cubic meters). The world average is 1243, whereas in most poor countries consumption falls below one thousand cubic meters. "The oil is transported directly to the ships reflects Silvana Galassi, Professor of Ecology at the University of Milan -. Water is incorporated into grain or other products. But there is no doubt that we are moving resources to other areas. " A paradoxical case is the import of fruit from Spain, a country that last year was forced to buy water from France because of the scarcity of their basins. Produce an orange in the Iberian Peninsula "costs" 50 liters of water. "In developed countries there is more arable land - continues Silvana Galassi, then use the soil and water elsewhere. But the planet is a single system, must be considered as a whole. We have already exceeded the level of sustainability. "
The Emergency Italian
Summer 2003, one of the warmer seasons in the last two centuries. Italy discovers in a few weeks for fear water shortages can also affect one of the richest reservoirs of the planet, the Po valley. Remember Professor of Ecology: "We have come to conflicting uses, such as between agriculture and hydropower, we thought existed only in countries with very little water. In future climate change will tend to aggravate these events. And unfortunately we are used to move only in an emergency, never try to prevent the possible crisis and govern. " Northern Italy is rich in high quality water, which was heavily polluted in the past and continues to be used often without brakes now. The South and the islands have limited resources allocated to decline in coming years and increasingly high percentage of losses in the network of aqueducts. All this within a framework that describes the director of the WWF: "The market price does not reflect in any way the value of water and subsidies hamper the drive towards new technologies. It is key here: if the price does not reflect the importance and scarcity of good, nobody cares about excessive consumption or waste. "
Pollution
There is another reality that is neglected, although it is obvious to all. The Italian water could be drunk in most cases without treatment. But in the past have used the wrong soil and polluted the water, so we are now to support the enormous costs for purification. According to environmental culture that lesson has not been assimilated. "He speaks rightly of CO2 and the greenhouse effect - summarizes the WWF - but the same sense of urgency we should have the water issue." The new research data are useful to reflect on our consumption: a tomato 'cost' 13 liters of water, a sheet of A4 paper 10 liters, a slice of bread 40, a pair of leather shoes and even 8000. But the pollution causes the production of those goods? Quantify is the new frontier for researchers. But ensure that from now: Import water into products means consuming countries in Europe and leave the original environmental impact.
Lawless
WWF lists a series of interventions to reduce our "footprint" on the planet. First: to work on water productivity for agricultural use. "Without blaming farmers-know-Candotti warns that improved technology for irrigation and water harvesting in the fields is a core to contain the use and waste." A widespread culture of good nutrition can affect an equally massive, such as reduced consumption of meat. In addition to the "sins" of producers and consumers, Italy pays a serious backwardness in terms of laws. The European Community Directive on water dates back to 2000, has been implemented, but not yet implemented. There is no such legislation to regulate demand, supply and management. WWF concludes: "If efforts to ask who produces and who consumes, we expect that there is also a kind of" constitution "that protects water as a public good."
From "Corriere della sera"
