3.1.4 The availability and consumption of water, land and food

News article

How green is your milk? We compare the environmental cost of dairy and plant-based options

More Australians are choosing oat, almond and soy over cow’s milk – but which choice is the most sustainable?

The Guardian · 6 March 2026

Key terms

• Blue water
  • Fresh surface and groundwater, in other words, the water in freshwater lakes, rivers and aquifers.

• Green water
  • The precipitation on land that does not run off or recharge the groundwater but is stored in the soil or temporarily stays on top of the soil or vegetation.

• Grey water
  • Refers to domestic wastewater generated in households or office buildings from streams without faecal contamination, i.e., all streams except for the wastewater from toilets. Sources of greywater include sinks, showers, baths, washing machines or dishwashers.

• Middle-income country
  • Defined by the World Bank as economies with a gross national income (GNI) per capita between $1,136 and $13,935 in 2024. This classification includes both lower middle-income economies and upper middle-income economies. MICs are home to 75% of the world's population and 62% of the world's poor, and they represent about one-third of global GDP.

• Pattern
  • Spatial. Pattern across geographical space.

• Trend
  • Temporal. Change over time.

• Virtual water
  • Virtual water, also called “embedded water” or “indirect water,” is the water “hidden” in the products, services and processes people buy and use every day. Although virtual water goes unseen by the end-user of a product or service, that water has been consumed throughout the value chain, which makes creation of that product or service possible.

• Water footprint
  • The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business.