Urban water: Podcast from Blakely Radio

6. The "water footprint" of a typical, U.S. cup of black coffee is massive — an estimated 591.74 cups (140 liters). This includes all the water used for growing, harvesting, refining, transporting and packaging the coffee beans, selling the coffee, and brewing the final cup. It’s that big if you drink it out of a reusable mug.

7. A latte-to-go with sugar has a water footprint of 845.35 cups (200 liters). The water footprint increases when ingredients are added, and will vary according to whether sugar, for example, came from sugarcane or sugar beet. If the final product is a takeaway coffee in a disposable cup, the water footprint will include the volume of water used to produce the cup as well as the water used to produce, deliver and make the coffee.

8. The United States has the third largest "production water footprint" in the world, after India which has the largest, then China. A production water footprint accounts for the volume of green water (a.k.a. rain) and blue water (withdrawn water ) that’s consumed in the production of agricultural goods from crops and livestock.

9. The agriculture industry forecasts that "a doubling of agricultural output without associated increases in the amount of land or water used" is possible by 2050.

10. The Living Planet Report tracks 714 species living in the world’s currently available freshwater, 636 species in marine water, and 1,341 terrestrial species. These marine and freshwater species declined 10% more than terrestrial from 1970-2007.