The line graph depicts amount of water used by three sectors-agriculture, industry, and domestic use from 1900 to 2000, while the table compares water usage in Brazil and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Overall, the largest quantity of water was used for agriculture purposes while the least amount of water was for domestic use. Brazil used far more water than the DRC, a difference largely explained by Brazil’s much larger population and irrigated land area.
In 1900, agriculture contributed the utmost use of water around 500 km3. The consumption then dramatically increased from 500km3 to around 3000km3 in the year 2000. Water used in the industrial and domestic sectors also increased, but consumption was constant at nearly 50km3 until 1940. From 1950 onwards, industrial use grew steadily to just over 1000km3, while domestic use rose more slowly to only 300km3 in 2000, both far below the level utilised by agriculture.
Brazil, with a population of 176 million, consumed 359m3 water per person with 26,500km2 irrigated land. In comparison, the DRC’s population was only 5.2 million with 100km2 of irrigated land. As a result, its per-capita water consumption was extremely low, at only 8m3.