Water Needs and Their Evolution - Hydrogeology: Objectives, Methods, Applications - page 175

It is diffi cult to know the proportion of water used for agriculture
as part of the water returns back to the aquifers by infi ltration, but an
estimate is that agricultural needs make up 70% of the water consumption
in France, and 90% of that goes to irrigation. Approximately 20% comes
from groundwater.
In arid countries, more effi cient irrigation techniques (drip irrigation
in Israel) decrease the percentage of water used for agriculture. Studies
are done in order to encourage the development of cultures with a greater
added value, such as greenhouse tomatoes instead of wheat (Morocco).
2.4 Bottled water
In France, an individual national survey on nutritional habits (Institut de
veille sanitaire and AFSSA. Inca1-1999 report) over a sample size of 3,000
people, showed that 6% of the population does not use tap water for cold
or hot (tea, coffee, infusions) beverages, and that 31% of the population
never chooses cold tap water over bottled water. This suggests increasing
distrust of tap water.
This phenomenon is not limited only to rich countries (Figure 93);
in poorer countries, where the distribution network does not allow a
qualitatively and quantitatively adequate tap connection, an explosion in
bottled water consumption is being observed, facilitated by the low cost
of packaging.
Figure 93 Evolution of bottled water consumption in the United States (from the International
Bottled Water Association USA © 2002).