Did you know that it takes about 109 litres of water to produce a glass of wine? That a litre of milk requires 211 litres of water? And the humble bag of chippies needs a massive 157 litres?

Scientists from Massey University and Plant and Food Research have been measuring so called “water footprints”, the total amount of water needed for processing goods and services.

Dr Brent Clothier, Science Group Leader Systems Modelling at Plant and Food Research in Palmerston North, says people want to know more these days.

“There is a general move by people to be interested in resource footprint...how much of the world's resources are we using to make our product.

“Water is a critical resource and people are now starting to focus more on how much water is used in each product.”

Dr Clothier says its important New Zealanders know how much water is used in each production process.

“We have just written a scientific paper because one of the things we're doing is the water footprint of a bottle of wine, and the same for a kilogram of spuds.

"We're doing them in different regions in New Zealand so that we can get the contrast between the hydrology, so we are looking at spuds in the Manawatu and then spuds in Canterbury which are very different regions.”