What does it mean when they say a burger uses 1300 gallons of water to make? Isn’t water renewable?

Question

I saw an ad for being vegan saying either don’t flush your toilet for 6 months, don’t shower for 3 months or don’t eat a burger once. But isn’t all of our water basically renewable and no matter if we do any of these things, it just goes back into the water cycle and we’ll reuse it eventually, even if we have to clean it somehow? What’s the big deal?

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

> if we have to clean it somehow?

That’s the point. Cleaning the water takes energy, requires building big complexes, and hiring people to drive in and work the machinery. All of these things can be damaging to the environment.