How Much Water? The water we drink or use to shower or clean our teeth or wash dishes isn't the only water we use. Every bit of food we eat or flavored drink we consume requires water to produce it. 10% of the water in California is used for growing almonds and it seems that every almond grown requires over 1 gallon of water. Each apple takes 18 gallons of water to produce and one slice of bread takes 11 gallons of water. In California there is a water shortage and they have had 5 years of drought so they are probably more aware of water usage. In a temperate country with plenty of rain, water usage for agriculture may not be as difficult. Of course, not all foods can be grown in temperate regions. Almonds for instance, do not grow here. 1 gallon of beer needs 68 gallons of water to produce it, while a gallon of wine, needs 1,008 gallons of water! Remember those apples above, where 1 apple needed 18 gallons of water to produce it? Well if you make apple juice from it, then it takes 59 gallons of water to produce that. So, if you drink bottled water, how much water is needed to produce that? It takes 22 gallons of water to produce a pound of plastic. Now there is not that much plastic in the bottle itself but it probably takes twice as much water to produce the bottle of water you carry as the bottle itself holds. Saving Water Is Complicated! Image Credit » My purchased graphic, with rights to use as I wish.