3 ms·
US uses 118B gallons of water/day in agricultural usage. Desal costs about 2k/acre-foot (325,851 gallons). That's ~724MM/day in water costs or 264B/year for wa
by cobookman 5y ago
US uses 118B gallons of water/day in agricultural usage.
Desal costs about 2k/acre-foot (325,851 gallons).
That's ~724MM/day in water costs or 264B/year for water.
US GDP is 21 Trillion.
As cost of water increases, conservation becomes more economical. Say all agriculture switches to hydroponics as a result. Hydroponics uses 1/10th the water of traditional methods...so we're talking now just 26B/year of water costs.
In 2017 US farms spent 359B on operations.
Food will become more expensive, but overall we'll be fine.