Water Pollution
Many countries face water shortages, yet for the breeding and slaughter of animals water is not spared. It takes 150 litres of water to produce 1 kilogram of wheat. In order to produce 1 kilogram of meat, it takes 15,000 litres of water. Spot the difference.
Washington, Oregon and California devote about 17 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to livestock production (remember that water can be used to generate electricity), which is enough energy to light every house in the country for a month and a half. For a family of four which consumes meat for a year, fuel sufficient for six months of driving is spent.
Blood that flows out of animals after they are slaughtered goes directly into our rivers, polluting them. The waste and faeces of billions of animals end up in seas and rivers, causing the excessive growth of various algae. Very soon it becomes clear that sources of drinking water on this planet are becoming not only polluted, but also insufficient, and that the meat industry is particularly polluting the environment.
Today the world's oceans are eerie voids that hardly resemble oceans that were once full of life.
In America, more than half the water is used for animal farming. In 1973, the New York Post revealed shocking abuse of precious resources - a large poultry slaughterhouse in the United States was spending 450 million litres of water a day, an amount that could supply a city of 25,000 people.
The production of livestock creates ten times more pollution than residential areas, and three times more than industry.
About 50% of water pollution in Europe is caused by factory farming. Runoff of fertilisers containing nitrate leads to an increase in nitrate concentration in groundwater to such an extent that some mineral waters do not meet the criteria of drinking water.
Farmers use 70 litres of water per day for a single animal. Only in England annual water consumption amounts to 159,250,000,000 litres. The amount of water used to obtain 5 kg of meat is proportional to the annual consumption of one household. Huge quantities of groundwater are drained for the needs of animals, which further contributes and will contribute to water scarcity.
150 litres of water are required to produce 1 kg of wheat, while for 1 kg of meat 15,000 litres of water are needed. The amount of water needed to produce 10 kg of steak equals the amount of water that an average family consumes in a whole year.
50% of the world's total water consumption is spent for the purpose of factory farming!