The Fashion Industry is responsible for depleting and polluting our water supply, while people on the planet go thirsty and even die from the water they drink.
The Fashion Industry uses over 28 trillion gallons of water a year, an enormous amount by any standard. This significantly contributes to the depletion of our water supply, in a world where half the people on the planet either do not have water to drink or do not know if they will have water to drink. Yes, you heard that right, half the world's population is suffering from water scarcity. That's a bonafide tragedy that many are completely unaware of. And, it gets worse. The making of clothes pollutes nearly 20 percent of available fresh water on our planet, sickening and killing many, ironically in the poverty-stricken countries that make our clothes.
With fast-fashion brands creating more than 100 billion new articles of clothing every year, the water required to grow plants, raise animals, process fabrics, and dye the clothes, has contributed significantly to the global water crisis we now face. Moreover, as the world’s population continues to grow, water scarcity is increasing, leading to human displacement and global conflicts.
The business of making clothes pollutes nearly 20 percent of the global freshwater available.
Only 3% of the world’s water supply is freshwater — of that 3%, at least two-thirds is locked away in ice. Yet the fast fashion industrial machine grows larger each day, consuming and polluting an ever-expanding water footprint. The numbers are difficult to wrap our heads around, so let’s dive into the biggest factors that contribute to this thirsty predicament.
Cotton
One of the worst offenders of water use and pollution is the cotton industry. Those comforting tv ads toting cotton’s soft and breathable accolades aren’t telling the whole story. Cotton is a water-intensive crop, requiring more than 1,000 gallons of water to harvest a pound of cotton. From there, cotton manufacturers rely on water to process and wash the cotton into usable fiber. All told, environmental advocates calculate a cotton t-shirt’s water footprint at 650 gallons — a staggering amount of water that could otherwise be directed to water-scarce populations.
The “fabric of our lives” is destroying lives.
Alarmingly, cotton farming uses 6% of the pesticides used in the world. These poisonous chemicals infiltrate the immediate soil and groundwater while also devastating downstream bodies of water. Unsurprisingly, the farmers working in these cotton fields are equally at risk. India is the largest cotton grower in the world, and just 1% of its cotton is organic. The remaining 99% is treated with pesticides and insecticides that farmers breathe in and touch. It should be noted that warning labels are rarely translated into regional languages, leaving local workers vulnerable to pesticide poisoning. The “fabric of our lives” is destroying lives.
Denim
Another offender is denim, or more to the point, jeans. Clothing manufacturers, by some estimates, produce between two and four billion pairs of jeans every year. Low cut, skinny, bell-bottoms, boot cut, boyfriend, jeggings, mom…the styles are endless. Jeans are so popular that on any given day, half the world is probably wearing a pair. Jeans are made from cotton (re: persona non grata) and sometimes polyester (to add a little stretch), but the process by which jeans are made is even more concerning. The tools used to achieve that desirable distressed effect and blue hue are super harmful to garment workers. The synthetic indigo dye is toxic to touch and often ends up in nearby waterways. Beyond the damage to people and the environment, the water footprint of one pair of jeans is close to 2,000 gallons.
Polyester
Well, it’s not just polyester, it’s a whole family of artificially made fabrics, including polyester, nylon, spandex, acrylic, and others, that are all commonly referred to as synthetic fabrics. Fast-fashion retailers love synthetic fabrics like polyester because it’s cheap and durable. Polyester is made from petroleum, and water is used excessively in petroleum drilling operations; creating usable fabrics from petroleum is chemically intensive as well. The water footprint for polyester is arguably smaller than materials that rely on crops and animals, but the corresponding carbon footprint is significantly higher. Synthetic garments are equally troublesome in that washing them releases tiny fibers into the water supply, contributing to microplastic pollution.
The water footprint for polyester is arguably smaller than materials that rely on crops and animals, but the corresponding carbon footprint is significantly higher.
Other Offenders
These are just a few examples of many. One should also consider the water footprint of garments made from animal products like leather, wool, and cashmere. Raising livestock, processing materials, and dyeing fibers all require significant water use and lead to water pollution. Livestock is also responsible for methane emissions, and methane is a major player in climate change. On another equally depressing note, clothing, no matter what it’s made from, tends to find its way to our landfills. About 5% of all trash in the United States is garment-related. Landfills are giant holes in the ground, meaning that all those toxic chemicals and dyes mentioned before sit below the water table, seeping into local groundwater sources.
Another important issue is that water is becoming the new oil, as corporate conglomerates are buying up water rights and the land that contains natural bodies of fresh water. Most of these are greed-fueled investments, aimed at selling water back to consumers at elevated prices. Meanwhile, much of the planet’s water is polluted, and our groundwater wells are being depleted at an alarming rate. In 2014, for example, the fourth-largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea, dried up — the lake had been over-extended for years in order to grow cotton.
The fourth-largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea, has dried up. Surface water is disappearing all over the planet.
We’re running out of water, and fashion is taking more than its fair share. The industry relies on water for its crops, its animals, its factories, and its trends. In return, it gives us polluted groundwater and pesticide poisoning. The adage, “Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink,” applies to more than a boat lost at sea — it describes the communities around cotton fields, textile mills, and landfills as well, where the water is no longer safe for people to drink.
Comments