Researchers analyzed the water footprint of 65 mid- to large-sized US cities. They analyzed agricultural, livestock and industrial commodity flows using data from the USDA, USGS and the USDOT, then used these values to calculate an overall water footprint for each city.
According to Caitlin Grady, one of the study’s authors, “We looked at the overall picture of water consumption…Not just the water that comes out of your tap but also the water that goes into the food that each city produces and consumes, so it’s both the direct water use and indirect water use, which we call your water footprint.”