Comfortably Unaware’s Dr. Richard Oppenlander:
—>50% of all the water used in the U.S. is given to the animals people eat.
—>70 billion animals are raised and killed each year for food. A few billion of these animals need up to 40 or more gallons of water per day…which is over 100 times what we, individually, consume daily.
—>The average water footprint per calorie of beef is TWENTY times larger than for grains.
—>Legumes (or “pulses”: lentils, beans, peas) require FORTY-FIVE times less water to produce versus beef and they are excellent sources of protein.
—>To produce 1 pound of meat, it takes:
1,800-2,500 gallons of water per pound of beef
731 gallons per pound of sheep
127 gallons per pound of goat
468 gallons per pound of chicken
880 gallons per gallon of milk
60-120 gallons to produce 1 egg
11.6 gallons to slaughter and process 1 chicken
Water Crisis