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Don't forget livestock - much bigger use than Ag. Pound per pound meat requires a LOT more clean water than crops, even almonds.
by r00fus 5y ago
Don't forget livestock - much bigger use than Ag. Pound per pound meat requires a LOT more clean water than crops, even almonds.
- thfuran 5y agoIsn't livestock largely a subset of agriculture?
- slimsag 5y agoLivestock are largely fed dried grass/grain which consumes a ton of water to grow but doesn't provide much to the cattle. Cows drink 9-12 gallons/day, 30-40 gallons/day for milk cows. Probably more in dryer climates. For comparison a 20'x20' lawn uses about 120 gallons/day. One acre of alfalfa requires ~12k gallons/day and sustains 0.4 to 0.8 heads of cattle.
- r00fus 5y agoI find the diagram on this article more clear [1]: pound for pound, beef uses 2x what nuts do on average. If there is an effort to reduce industrial water usage, those high-usage categories are probably where to look to cut (and less on residential water usage). [1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/water-footprint-food-sustainability https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/water-footprint-food-...
- Ekaros 5y agoYeah, high-usage categories in areas without sufficient supply of water. On other hand in some areas there is sufficient amount of water available even with this usage. There really isn't one fit everywhere policy.