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Most of California water consumption is agriculture. Seems like we just need to dial back agriculture a bit in California if we are hurting for water.

by pkaye 6y ago

bluGill 6y ago
What are you going to eat then? Most of California water goes to the sea. Of the remainder agriculture is the majority, but agriculture is also paying the most attention to water conservation overall. (though you personally might not water your lawn or golf, enough others do as to cancel out private residences)
- sbierwagen 6y ago
  https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/ https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/ Dairy Products, Milk — $7.34 billion Almonds — $6.09 billion Grapes — $5.41 billion Cattle and Calves — $3.06 billion Strawberries — $2.22 billion Pistachios — $1.94 billion Lettuce — $1.82 billion Walnuts — $1.29 billion Floriculture — $1.22 billion Tomatoes — $1.17 billion Not seeing wheat or rice on this list. Sue me for saying this, but I don't think strawberries are critical to survival.
  - specialist 6y ago
    Thanks. Your comment got me to wondering about the almond harvest's impact. Quick inference from the top hits: almonds use 10% of the water to generate 12% of the revenue compared to rice, almonds use 40% more water and generate x3 the dollar per acre-foot. https://fruitgrowers.com/what-california-crops-use-the-most-water/ https://fruitgrowers.com/what-california-crops-use-the-most-... https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CA-Ag-Water-Use.pdf https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CA-Ag-Water-U... So while growing almonds in California is insane ecologically, it's pretty damn good economically.
  - nradov 6y ago
    Yes the largest use of water in California is alfalfa and other feed for dairy cattle. If you want to reduce your personal water consumption then instead of taking shorter showers or letting your lawn die the most effective measure would be consuming less local dairy products. Or seek out dairy products from regenerative agriculture farms if you can find them.
- pkaye 6y ago
  > What are you going to eat then? 18% of California irrigation water is used for alfalfa as livestock feed and is exported to other countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_in_California#Uses_of_water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_in_California#Uses_of_wa...
SllX 6y ago
Keep telling yourself “we just need to X” and someday it will surely happen. Could be our State motto.

Most of California water consumption is agriculture. Seems like we just need to dial back agriculture a bit in California if we are hurting for water.

by pkaye 6y ago

Most of California water consumption is agriculture. Seems like we just need to dial back agriculture a bit in California if we are hurting for water.

bluGill 6y ago

What are you going to eat then? Most of California water goes to the sea. Of the remainder agriculture is the majority, but agriculture is also paying the most attention to water conservation overall. (though you personally might not water your lawn or golf, enough others do as to cancel out private residences)

sbierwagen 6y ago
https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/ https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Statistics/ Dairy Products, Milk — $7.34 billion Almonds — $6.09 billion Grapes — $5.41 billion Cattle and Calves — $3.06 billion Strawberries — $2.22 billion Pistachios — $1.94 billion Lettuce — $1.82 billion Walnuts — $1.29 billion Floriculture — $1.22 billion Tomatoes — $1.17 billion Not seeing wheat or rice on this list. Sue me for saying this, but I don't think strawberries are critical to survival.
- specialist 6y ago
  Thanks. Your comment got me to wondering about the almond harvest's impact. Quick inference from the top hits: almonds use 10% of the water to generate 12% of the revenue compared to rice, almonds use 40% more water and generate x3 the dollar per acre-foot. https://fruitgrowers.com/what-california-crops-use-the-most-water/ https://fruitgrowers.com/what-california-crops-use-the-most-... https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CA-Ag-Water-Use.pdf https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CA-Ag-Water-U... So while growing almonds in California is insane ecologically, it's pretty damn good economically.
- nradov 6y ago
  Yes the largest use of water in California is alfalfa and other feed for dairy cattle. If you want to reduce your personal water consumption then instead of taking shorter showers or letting your lawn die the most effective measure would be consuming less local dairy products. Or seek out dairy products from regenerative agriculture farms if you can find them.
pkaye 6y ago
> What are you going to eat then? 18% of California irrigation water is used for alfalfa as livestock feed and is exported to other countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_in_California#Uses_of_water https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_in_California#Uses_of_wa...

SllX 6y ago

Keep telling yourself “we just need to X” and someday it will surely happen. Could be our State motto.