Plants, animals and all life on land depend on freshwater to survive. The earth’s freshwater is an essential resource that must be sufficient for the needs of households, agriculture, industries, and all the species linked to the freshwater ecosystem.
But how do we use the water? While 2.1 billion people, according to UNICEF, lack access to clean water [1], we use 70% of the world’s freshwater to grow crops [2]. One particularly water-demanding crop is cotton.

A lot of water is required to produce textiles. Water is needed to bleach, dye, and treat the fabrics. The cotton farms are the ones that use the most significant amount of water. Up to 29,000 litres of water are required to produce one kilo of cotton [3]. When we take a hot bath, it is easy to relate to how much water we consume. Still, it’s more difficult to grasp the relationship to the colossal water consumed in the agricultural industry. The amount is harder to understand, mainly because we cannot see it.
HOW CAN SO MUCH WATER BE USED? ONE EXPLANATION MAY BE THAT WE GROW THE WRONG CROPS IN THE WRONG PLACE
In many countries, traditional local crops have been abandoned and replaced with crops suitable for export. The crop chosen is the crop that gives the best yield growing. Usually, we adopt the traditional crops to the soil and water supply at the site. Cotton, for example, grows wild in tropical climates where there is a good supply of water. Many places where cotton grows now are subtropical or temperate areas such as the United States, China, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. In many of these countries, water is a limited resource. Therefore, we must add a large amount of water through irrigation.

WHERE DOES ALL THE WATER GO?
Irrigation means moving water from its natural flow. The result leads to drought, water shortages, and declining groundwater levels at the places where we take the water from.
We all know that this kind of irrigation affects rivers and ecosystems locally. New studies show that irrigation also affects the water cycle globally. Irrigation systems consume significantly more freshwater than previously thought, and more water evaporates from the irrigation systems and the crops themselves. This results in increased amounts of water vapour in the atmosphere and less available water on land, leading to an increased risk of drought and floods [4].

Lack of clean water has serious consequences for human health. In addition, about 80 per cent of the diseases children suffer from worldwide are precisely due to a lack of clean water [1]. Therefore, it is strange that we use large amounts of water for things that are not vital. Researchers and entrepreneurs are trying to develop new textile materials that are less water and energy-demanding to produce. In Sweden, for example, the research platform Smart Textiles at the School of Textiles in Borås is researching and developing new textile materials such as bamboo and hemp. Another example is the Vinnova-funded research project ” Fabric to Fabric “ , which examines future possibilities for recycling fibres.
Whatever we succeed in, large amounts of water will be needed to develop new products, even if the materials come partly from recycled raw materials. The best thing we can do is take care of our textiles and primarily shop second-hand.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
- It can take 11,000 litres of water to make a pair of jeans. That is enough drinking water for one person for ten years. If you buy second-hand instead, you will not use any water at all. The Red Cross, Emmaus, Myrorna, and Erikshjälpen are examples of second-hand shops in many Swedish cities. If you do not have time to walk around flea markets, you can shop second-hand at Tradera or Sellpy.
- Where does your drinking water come from? When we have knowledge about our water, we will care more for it.
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