39,097
gallons of water per item
Per item: one mid-size passenger car
That's the same as...
🧺
1,955
Washing Machine Load
About This Data
Producing one mid-size car embeds roughly 148,000 liters (about 39,000 gallons) of water across steel, aluminum, plastics, electronics and assembly. Published estimates range widely, from about 120,000 liters for direct manufacturing to over 400,000 liters when the full materials supply chain is counted. Source: automotive manufacturing life-cycle analyses.
Figures are global-average totals (green + blue + grey water) per item and are not California-specific; the crop fact sheets on this site show California consumptive water use (green + blue, excludes grey) per serving, so compare with that difference in mind.