Environmental impacts of water use affect the sustainability of food production. The impacts of water use associated with self-selected diets in the United States are estimated here based on the types and quantities of foods in the diet, the irrigation water required to produce those foods and the relative scarcity of water in the regions where that irrigation occurs. Food substitutions offer opportunities to reduce these water impacts.
- Martin C. Heller
- Amelia Willits-Smith
- Donald Rose
