Not all drops of water are the same

Where does the food we eat come from? Is it good for me? And am I doing the right thing in consuming it? In a world of limited resources, questioning ourselves about our lifestyles and our consumption patterns is not only desirable but also necessary. For this reason, we have introduced here the concept of virtual water”, namely the water required to produce the food, goods and services that we consume daily (Allan 1993, 1994, 1998). Thanks to the application of this concept, we will discover that we consume much more water than that we effectively see running” before our eyes; we will highlight that the data showing Italian water consumption being 152 cubic litres a year per capita only reflect a partial consumption, referring only to the water used for our domestic purposes (drinking, cooking, washing, etc.).