Agriculture Drinking Up California’s Water

 Agriculture Drinking Up California’s Water

By Kayla Augustine

When most people think about California’s abuse of our water supply, they usually think of waterparks, swimming pools, and golf courses in the desert.  Although these are very wasteful, in California, the major use of water is agriculture.

Agriculture accounts for 85 percent of California’s overall water supply.[1]  The most water demanding of all the crops grown in California is Alfalfa, which accounts for one third of the total water used for agriculture; that is approximately 240,000,000 gallons per year if there are no pipe leaks.[2]  Although Alfalfa uses so much water, it is one of the lowest cash value crops California grows.  California needs to start looking at what is necessary and makes sense to grow or we will have some serious water shortages.

Some people might think the water used for agriculture is not being wasted because it is used to grow our crops; the crops we eat and feed to our animals.  But the high water usage for agriculture of 85 percent is not necessary.  More then 95 percent of the water used for agriculture is evaporated, either on the plant leaves, in the irrigation piping or on the top layers of soil.[3]  Because of the high amount of water being evaporated, it can take approximately 27,160 gallons per acre.[4]  There is obviously not much people can do to stop the water from evaporating, but there are other ways to try and save water.  The irrigation methods we have are not the best.  The Gravity irrigation system is low cost, but is difficulty to manage and the surface run off can cause water quality problems.[5]  The Sprinkler irrigation system has a moderate cost and is easy to manage, but the efficiency is affected if there is wind.[6]  The last type of irrigation system, the Microirrigation system, has an efficient and accurate water use, but it has a high capital cost (up to 1,000 per acre) and is susceptible to emitter clogging.[7]  Although according to the University of California, it is unlikely increasing irrigation efficiency will have a large impact in reducing the amount of water agriculture accounts for, every little bit helps.

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[1] Wuerthner, George. "Welfare Ranching: Guzzling the West's Water: Squandering a Public Resource at Public Expense." Welfare Ranching: Guzzling the West's Water: Squandering a Public Resource at Public Expense. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

[2] Hanson, Blaine. "Irrigation of Agricultural Crops in California." Department of Land, Air and Water Resources. University of California, Davis, n.d. Web.

[3] Hanson, Blaine. "Irrigation of Agricultural Crops in California." Department of Land, Air and Water Resources. University of California, Davis, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

[4] Hanson, Blaine. "Irrigation of Agricultural Crops in California." Department of Land, Air and Water Resources. University of California, Davis, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

[5] Hanson, Blaine. "Irrigation of Agricultural Crops in California." Department of Land, Air and Water Resources. University of California, Davis, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

[6] Hanson, Blaine. "Irrigation of Agricultural Crops in California." Department of Land, Air and Water Resources. University of California, Davis, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.

[7] Hanson, Blaine. "Irrigation of Agricultural Crops in California." Department of Land, Air and Water Resources. University of California, Davis, n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.