Water Consumption Difference

LICs and HICs in water consumption and percentage use for different purposes (agriculture, industry, domestic)

• LICs use less water than HICs
• UN recommended each person use 50l of water a day
  • Sub-Saharan Africa gets 25l, US gets 600l (greedy!)

Percentage of water used in agriculture (69%), industry (20%), domestic (11%) - WORLD

HICs (USA) - 54% industry, 41% agriculture, 14% domestic

LICs (Africa) - 85% agriculture, 8% domestic, 7% industry

• Domestic -
  • HICs -flushing toilets (6-12 litres per flush)
  • LICs - no flushes
• Agriculture -
  • HICs - automated sprinklers (flow of 50l/sec)
  • LICs - hand worked buckets (flow of 2l/sec)
• Industrial -
  • HICs - large scale factories (Coca Cola 1 million litres a day)
  • LICs - small scale home run businesses or cottages

Most countries use a large amount of water for agricultural purposes compared to other purposes. We know that HICs tend to use more water for domestic and industry because they have facilities such as flushing toilets and washing machines but also because their industries are often on a larger scale than LICs