My Water Diary

According to the water footprint calculators (National Geographic and Water Footprint Network):

My average daily water footprint is 844 gallons of water per day. The average American daily water footprint is 2060 gallons of water per day.

My average weekly water footprint is 5,908 gallons of water per week. The average American weekly water footprint is 14,420 gallons of water per week.

My average annual water footprint is 308,060 gallons of water per year. The average American annual water footprint is 751,900 gallons of water per year.

Compared to the United States averages, my water footprint in daily, weekly and annual dosage is significantly smaller. Even though I know that water is an indispensable resource in life, I did not expect I rely on water for a wide variety of uses. However, as noted earlier, my water consumption is still below American average, partly because I do not have a car (A gallon of gasoline usually requires 13 gallons of water to produce – Source).  

Countries	Water footprint per year (million m3)		Water footprint per capital (litre per day)
Syria	36,000	External: 16%	5,800
		Internal: 84%
Israel	14,000	External: 82%	6,300
		Internal: 18%
Palestine	3,400	External: 7%	2,900
		Internal: 93%
Jordan	8,300	External: 86%	4,600
		Internal: 14%
Lebanon	8,100	External: 73%	5,800
		Internal: 27%
USA	820,000	External: 20%	7,800
		Internal: 80%

Source

The table above showed the water footprints of countries in the Jordan Valley (Syria, Israel/Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon) and the United States. No country in the Levant even came close to the U.S annual average consumption of water. In addition, only 20 percent of the United States’ water footprint comes from outside of the country. On the contrary, with the exceptions of Syria and Palestine, Levantine countries have more than 70% of their water footprint outside of their countries, meaning that they have to import water from the global trading system, commonly known as “virtual water.”

In terms of implications, the governments in these countries will have to face the social pressures created by water scarcity as a result of increase in population or consumption of water.  Water is used in agriculture, fisheries, forestry and livestock so the issue of increased water demand and the depletion of water can be critical to livelihoods and long-term economic strategies. If these governments do not take actions to respond to these water challenges, eventually their ruling legitimacies will be undermined by an unforgiving public. And as Morriestte and Borer pointed out, if the government is responsible for the scarcity of water resources (structural arrangements, resource captures, etc.), social unrest will be exacerbated[1].

As mentioned above, one of the ways these water-deficient countries in the Jordan Valley deal with the issue of water is to import water-intensive products from the outside. This policy has two implications for the national food security in these societies. First of all, because the indigenous water cannot meet the water needs of growing population, making more water “flow” as virtual water in the region is a good strategy to augment the declining water resources, thus securing the food security for the public in the short run. Nevertheless in the long run, for countries in the Levant, this policy implies a long-term dependency on other countries abroad for food supply, making these Middle Eastern countries more vulnerable to outside powers if for example, their trading partners decide to cut the supply and their public will have to deal with the loss of water resources. Moreover, the price of virtual water will likely to increase as WTO’s free-trade policies will further eliminate the agricultural subsidies, which make the food prices affordable for the region.

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[1] Morrissette, Jason, and Doublas Borer. "Where Oil and Water Do Mix: Environmental Scarcity and Future Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa." Parameters, no. Winter 2004-05, 92.