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Hay grown for cattle consumes nearly half the water drawn from Colorado River, study finds (www.latimes.com)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Archived copies of the article: ghostarchive.org archive.today

The study itself is here

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[–] aodhsishaj 15 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

I do not understand why we don't just plant switch grass and be done with it? It's native to a large swath of the arable land, doesn't require as much (in some areas any) irrigation and it's good for the soil. https://cropwatch.unl.edu/benefits-switchgrass-hay-and-forage

https://utia.tennessee.edu/publications/wp-content/uploads/sites/269/2023/10/SP701-B.pdf

Edit: Also 6.24 is closer to a third of 19.25 than it is a half. Which is still a massive amount of water. Why inflate the numbers by saying nearly a half?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago

What's even more frustrating is that it's not useful. Here's an article about Utah's water usage WRT alfalfa:

alfalfa and other kinds of hay sucks up 68% of the 5.1 million acre-feet of water diverted every year in Utah

...

amounts to 0.2% of the state’s annual gross domestic product

...

Almost a third of it is exported, mostly to China, taking far too much of our water with it.

So, Utah is using 2/3 of their water to produce 0.2% of their GDP and exports almost a third of it. It's completely stupid...

[–] punkideas 4 points 10 months ago

It's because you have to use your water to keep water rights. Flood irrigating alfalfa is an easy way to use up a lot of water to keep the rights without having to manage more complex farms. The current way that water rights works creates perverse incentives.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Water which evaporates from reservoirs or wetlands isn't "drawn" from the river for human use. So it's about half of water removed for human use

[–] cjoll4 2 points 10 months ago

Thanks for the clarification!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I dont understand why we dont ban cattle breeding & importing and be done with it?