adminIf you’ve been living under a rock for the last 3 years you probably haven’t heard much about the California drought. Luckily for you, our next couple blog posts will be an in depth look into why this is becoming such a large problem, who it is affecting the most, and what the state should be doing to take action.
First off let’s take a look at the current water usage in California. 80% of water usage goes to agriculture and farming, while only 20% is left for the people of California to use for necessities such as showers, their lawn, drinking water, etc.
Now let’s look at a breakdown of how important California really is to the rest of America. Currently California grows:
- 94% of American broccoli
- 97% of plums
- 71% of their spinach
- 69% of their carrots
- And most importantly, 90% of the country’s wine!
To break it down even further:
- One head of broccoli = 5.4 gallons of water
- One Walnut = 4.9 gallons of water
- One head of lettuce = 3.5 gallons of water
- One tomato = 3.3 gallons of water
- One almond = 1.1 gallons of water
Now this is where it gets scary, according to NASA the state only has one year of water left in all of their reservoirs, and those reservoirs do not have a high chance of filling back up any time soon due to lack of normal snowpack. Not to mention, the water they are getting through the Colorado River aqueduct is slowly drying up the river. Are you starting to see what’s wrong with this picture?
All of this water that California doesn’t have is being put towards such a large part of America’s agriculture. This should ultimately be getting your brain working by bringing water scarcity to the forefront and really opening our eyes to how the climate is changing and how precious safe water really is.
Is all of this agriculture actually something that is sustainable in California? What do you think should be done differently? What can you do differently to save water in YOUR community?
– K
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