The Official Drought Thread

[Pelado]

It takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow 1 almond. There are 80 almonds in a gallon of almond milk. (It's mostly water and seaweed). So about 85 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of almond milk. It takes up to 2,000 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of milk. Freakin' cows.

As long as the cows are not in California, not a problem.

[PaloAltoCougar]

As long as the cows are not in California, not a problem.

D'oh. Here's a shot of Harris Ranch next to I-5 in the Central Valley:

[creekster]

creekster = part of the problem

If I only had a nickel for every time I have heard that!

[Pelado]

It takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow 1 almond. There are 80 almonds in a gallon of almond milk. (It's mostly water and seaweed). So about 85 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of almond milk. It takes up to 2,000 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of milk. Freakin' cows.

Seems like this Natural News site is the source of that 2,000 gallons claim:

http://www.naturalnews.com/023341_wa...k_organic.html

Here's a purported picture of the author, Mike Adams (aka the Health Ranger):

Health-Ranger-BW-author.jpg

lol. Not a chance.

The LA Times quotes National Geographic as saying that it only takes 880 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of milk - not the 2,000 gallons that Health Ranger Mike claimed. So, as usual, YOhio is right again.

Just to get a sense of how much water goes into growing and processing what we eat, here's a list of the water footprint for some common foods, via National Geographic:

A 1/3-pound burger requires 660 gallons of water. Most of this water is for producing beef (see below).

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1 pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water, which includes irrigation of the grains and grasses in feed, plus water for drinking and processing.

1 slice of bread requires 11 gallons of water. Most of this water is for producing wheat (see below).

1 pound of wheat requires 132 gallons of water.

1 gallon of beer requires 68 gallons of water, or 19.8 gallons of water for 1 cup. Most of that water is for growing barley (see below).


1 pound of barley requires 198 gallons of water.

1 gallon of wine requires 1,008 gallons of water (mostly for growing the grapes), or 63.4 gallons of water for 1 cup.

1 apple requires 18 gallons of water. It takes 59.4 gallons of water to produce 1 cup of apple juice.

1 orange requires 13 gallons of water. It takes 53.1 gallons of water for 1 cup of orange juice.

1 pound of chicken requires 468 gallons of water.

1 pound of pork requires 576 gallons of water.

1 pound of sheep requires 731 gallons of water.

1 pound of goat requires 127 gallons of water.

1 pound of rice requires 449 gallons of water.

1 pound of corn requires 108 gallons of water.

1 pound of soybeans requires 216 gallons of water.

1 pound of potatoes requires 119 gallons of water.

1 egg requires 53 gallons of water.

1 gallon of milk requires 880 gallons of water, or 54.9 gallons of water for 1 cup. That includes water for raising and grazing cattle, and bottling and processing.

1 pound of cheese requires 600 gallons of water. On average it requires 1.2 gallons of milk to make 1 pound of cheese.

1 pound of chocolate requires 3,170 gallons of water.

1 pound of refined sugar requires 198 gallons of water.

1 gallon of tea requires 128 gallons of water, or 7.9 gallons of water for 1 cup.

1 gallon of coffee requires 880 gallons of water, or 37 gallons of water for 1 cup. "If everyone in the world drank a cup of coffee each morning, it would 'cost' about 32 trillion gallons of water a year," National Geographic notes.

http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydis...124-story.html

[Uncle Ted]

It takes 1.1 gallons of water to grow 1 almond. There are 80 almonds in a gallon of almond milk. (It's mostly water and seaweed). So about 85 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of almond milk. It takes up to 2,000 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of milk. Freakin' cows.

[Uncle Ted]

Seems like this Natural News site is the source of that 2,000 gallons claim:

http://www.naturalnews.com/023341_wa...k_organic.html

Here's a purported picture of the author, Mike Adams (aka the Health Ranger):

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5712[/ATTACH]



The LA Times quotes National Geographic as saying that it only takes 880 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of milk - not the 2,000 gallons that Health Ranger Mike claimed. So, as usual, YOhio is right again.



http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydis...124-story.html

It seems folks in Cali just need to stop eating food and all their water problems would be over.

[YOhio]

It seems folks in Cali just need to stop eating food and all their water problems would be over.

I agree. We should have a church-wide fast and plead with the Lord to provide the necessary precipitation for California to once again flourish. I would enthusiastically participate.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I agree. We should have a church-wide fast and plead with the Lord to provide the necessary precipitation for California to once again flourish. I would enthusiastically participate.

Instead of precipitation, tell the members the fast would be for moisture and they'd be on board.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

What I'm curious about is how much almond farmers (or walnuts, pistachios, grapes, peaches, etc) use drip irrigation as opposed to flooding their rows of trees with irrigation water, like I used to see. For all I know, it wouldn't make any difference in water usage.

The point of the charts, beyond showing how much water is used by a couple crops, is probably to pin the blame on the farmers, which is ridiculous. Almonds that are produced in California are the almonds that that the entire country consumes because they don't really produce them anywhere else domestically. The same goes for literally dozens of other fruits, vegetables and nuts. Water is needed for these crips and there's a demand for them and they're not luxury foods.

An argument can be made that meat and dairy production does not have to take place in the southern 2/3 of California. But you can't grow almonds and grapes, at least in large quantities, in Iowa and Nebraska.

[Donuthole]

Water is needed for these crips and there's a demand for them

Blaming California's problems on gangs is so 1994.

[All-American]

I agree. We should have a church-wide fast and plead with the Lord to provide the necessary precipitation for California to once again flourish. I would enthusiastically participate.

I would participate, but it would be without faith. Have Californians not read the proclamation on the family? Not like we didn't warn you, bozos.

[Jeff Lebowski]

You make great points. Is restricting almond production the answer?

With a drought of this magnitude, there are no easy answers and it is wrong to single out any one thing as a solution/culprit. This is simply uncharted territory beyond anything we have ever seen.

As for conservation, it is nice to install 1 gpf toilets and low-flow shower heads, but about all that will accomplish is to make you feel better about yourself. From an urban perspective, lawns and swimming pools take the most water by far. And 80% of the water used in California goes to agriculture. Water for agriculture in the western US is heavily subsidized by US taxpayers. Farmers don't come anywhere close to paying the real cost (this is especially true in Utah). One way to manage the problem would be to let market dynamics dictate true water costs. You would see a quick adjustment in farming practices and crop choices and food prices. At the very least, the biggest impact we can have is pushing for water delivery and irrigation systems that are as efficient as possible.

And btw, encourage your kids to go into water resource engineering. Growth industry.

[wuapinmon]

Growth industry.

I'd call it sow-sow.

[wuapinmon]

[cowboy]

Water for agriculture in the western US is heavily subsidized by US taxpayers. Farmers don't come anywhere close to paying the real cost (this is especially true in Utah).

Please explain.