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October 16, 2020

When it is open to the public, one of the stations in our exhibit, The Aquiary, looks at how much water is used to grow and produce the things we eat and use every day. Visitors are often surprised at the number of gallons needed for the things around us. Factories that manufacture disposable products like paper, plastic, fabric and metal all rely on water to produce their products and clean them. Understanding how much water is needed for these things can help us to understand how we use and reuse things. Take a look at how much water is used to produce some of your favorite holiday items! 

A Holiday T-shirt

 

The average t-shirt requires 400 gallons of water to grow the cotton for one shirt.

Cotton to Sew a Costume

 

Cotten needs about 2,800 gallons of water to grow enough to produce a single sheet of cotton.

A Cat

 

It can take more than 3,600 gallons to produce enough canned cat food to feed the average cat for five days. This doesn't even take into account the water a cat drinks every day.

A medium pumpkin

 

Pumpkins need a lot of water to grow and can use up to 30-40 gallons of water per week. To grow a GIANT pumpkin, you need a lot of water - one man uses 27,000 gallons of water per month to grow his field of giant pumpkins.

A Chocolate Bar

 

It can take more than 225 gallons of water to produce one regular-sized chocolate bar!

Gallon of Apple Cider

 

About 13 pounds of apples are needed to make a gallon of apple cider. Those apples typically consume 1,560 gallons of water in the growing process.