excellent points. just want to help people contextualize here. roughly 3/4 of all that water you’re talking about is for industrial scale agriculture. we could almost halve the water usage with restrictions on which crops can or can’t be grown.
Irrigated agriculture is responsible for 74% of direct human uses and 52% of overall water consumption. Water consumed for agriculture amounts to three times all other direct uses combined. Cattle feed crops including alfalfa and other grass hays account for 46% of all direct water consumption.
in other words, there’s a fuckton of water available for human use… but not enough for humans AND cows. not enough to satiate the endless global demand for cheeseburgers and steaks. our mis management of the water supply is steering the entire southwestern US into a man made disaster with catastrophic knock on effects for global meat consumption. some folks say "cattle ranching made The West. seems fitting that cattle will be it’s unmaking.
excellent points. just want to help people contextualize here. roughly 3/4 of all that water you’re talking about is for industrial scale agriculture. we could almost halve the water usage with restrictions on which crops can or can’t be grown.
source
in other words, there’s a fuckton of water available for human use… but not enough for humans AND cows. not enough to satiate the endless global demand for cheeseburgers and steaks. our mis management of the water supply is steering the entire southwestern US into a man made disaster with catastrophic knock on effects for global meat consumption. some folks say "cattle ranching made The West. seems fitting that cattle will be it’s unmaking.