Today (October 15) is Blog Action Day 2010. The topic is water. Here’s a bit from the Blog Action Day website:

Why Water?
Right now, almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one in eight of us who are subject to preventable disease and even death because of something that many of us take for granted.

Access to clean water is not just a human rights issue. It’s an environmental issue. An animal welfare issue. A sustainability issue. Water is a global issue, and it affects all of us.

Let’s start with some facts:

• It takes an average of 5000 liters of water to produce just one kilogram of cheese. (source)
• For beef, it takes 15,500 liters of water to produce just one kilogram of beef. (source)
• If you eat chickens, it takes about 3900 liters of water to produce just one kilogram of chicken meat. (source)
• Yet barley only requires 1300 liters of water per kilogram of barley. (source)
• Soy is similar, weighing in at 1800 liters of water per kilogram. (source)
• Potatoes require a mere 900 liters of water per kilogram of potatoes. (source)

In general, vegan foods require less water to produce than nonvegan foods.

This video explains veganism and the water issue as it relates to veganism:

But animal agriculture is not just a waste of water, it’s also a water polluter.

The US Environmental Protection Agency states:

Animal feeding operations (AFOs) are agricultural enterprises where animals are kept and raised in confined situations. AFOs congregate animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations on a small land area. Feed is brought to the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise seeking feed in pastures, fields, or on rangeland. There are approximately 450,000 AFOs in the United States. [...]

Manure and wastewater from AFOs have the potential to contribute pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus, organic matter, sediments, pathogens, heavy metals, hormones, antibiotics, and ammonia to the environment. [...] These conditions may be harmful to human health and, in combination with other circumstances, have been associated with outbreaks of microbes such as Pfiesteria piscicida. Decomposing organic matter (i.e., animal waste) can reduce oxygen levels and cause fish kills. Pathogens, such as Cryptosporidium, have been linked to impairments in drinking water supplies and threats to human health. Pathogens in manure can also create a food safety concern if manure is applied directly to crops at inappropriate times. [...] Nitrogen in the form of nitrate, can contaminate drinking water supplies drawn from ground water.

You can see where the polluting AFOs in the US are by looking at a map, factoryfarmmap.org, from Food and Water Watch. Here is a screenshot of the interactive map:

Please help end this water waste and water pollution at the source. Please choose vegan.

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Sections: Vegan Theory
Topics: 2010, blog action day, clean water, efficiency, environment, go veg, pollution, veg, Vegan, waste, water, water footprint