How Agriculture Is Responsible For Ninety Two Percent Of The World 's Water Footprint ( Perkins )

After learning about the statistics of how much agriculture consumes our planet, I was appalled to see how destructive it is. Jonathan Foley put into perspective the increase and rapid demand for food. Agriculture alone consumes 40% of our land surface, 70% of our irrigation system, and

Have you thought about the importance of water recently? Water provides many things to people, from green lawns to nutritious food. An event that may have spurred these thoughts is the drought in California. They are struggling because there is simply not enough water in California to go around for all of its uses. Measures have been taken to conserve water, but cutbacks have been made on everything, even the giant industry of California agriculture. More water should be devoted to agricultural uses instead of residential uses in California for the following reasons:

Severe water scarcity could be imminent in the not so distant future. Flooding crop furrows has been an inexpensive irrigation method for over six thousand years. Though traditional, it is very wasteful. An excessive amount of the water evaporates into he air, or soaks into the ground while the plants receive very little. The excess water drains into rivers and underground aquifers. The water running from the furrows is polluted with fertilizers. The constant use of flooding creates erosion, waterlogging and salinization of the soil. 40 percent of the world’s food grows on irrigated soil.

“California’s water future is increasingly uncertain,” says Heather Cooley, in her article California Needs Better Water Management and Pricing Policies (Source A). Agriculture uses 80 percent of California’s constrained water supply and proves to be the primary source of California’s drought. There has been no permanent and largely successful conservation effort to save water. However, with a reformed water management and conservation system, California’s largest industry, agriculture, can thrive while saving water at the same time.

California is going on a four-year drought, having many devastating implications that are being felt by everyone in the state. The population hit the hardest has been the farmers of California. California, being economically driven by its agricultural production, is losing hundreds of thousands of jobs every year due to the lack of water. Farmers’ use 80% of water the state produces, directly influencing their production (Mieszkowski, 2014). The country heavily relies on California for much of its produce such as tomatoes, nuts, avocados, strawberries, broccoli, grapes and various others (Cooley et al. 2015). In 2014, harvested acreage was 6.9 million acres, the lowest it has been for the past 15 years. Farmers are now being forced to use significantly less land then before, but also ditch old irrigation techniques and implement new techniques to better conserve water; maximizing production as much as possible in order to combat the drought.

The water users of California have been asked to cut back water use whenever possible. This means shorter showers, drought resistant landscape, and low flow options for faucets and sprinklers. Farmer’s alike have been spotlighted to cut back on water use for it is calculated that they consume 80% of the state’s developed water supply (pacisnt). Although cutting back is a way to help conserve what is available, it is imperative that a new supply of fresh water be found before California overdrafts itself to no supply at all.

​Water is one of the crucial element our planet provides, however, the supply of freshwater will wane if the consumption of water remains unchecked. The steadily growing need to conserve water usage within the United States has sparked people to change their usage of water to aid their communities during desperate times. Recently California experienced a severe drought which called on a restriction on water usage to a bare minimum. During this drought, rising temperature and lack of rain on cities who rely on rain water to recharge the many water sources pushed California governor to act encouraging people to assist with implement the restrictions. The water restriction allowed people to still go about their daily lives while maintaining a

Farmers need water to grow crops, feed animals, and, of course, to stay alive; but, how much water is too much? When farmers- and other land owners- use too much of their own water and run out, they dig. They don’t dig straight down, they dig

Agriculture, probably more than any other human enterprise, is responsible for destabilizing our planet’s water supply. California and their emergency crisis on their low levels of water ultimately having a national controversial impact on the production of the agricultural industry.

The scarcity of water in California will keep getting worse, and the farmers limitations on water will too. Farmers are facing a greater threat than the federal government's limitations on their water consumption. Instead of ignoring the fact that: global warming is changing the environment around them. They should acknowledge that their land is getting significantly drier, and learn how to adapt to the land changing. In order, for them to successfully grow crops, pay their workers, and strive throughout future seasons. California farmers need to focus on what

One such farm uses more than 22 billion gallons of water annually to irrigate their 30,000-acre wheat and corn farm (Parker). Another contributing factor is the pressure for farmers to continue over irrigating their lands. The push behind this practice is coming from other businesses, like seed and grain mill operations, farm implement dealers, bankers, and anyone else that rely on these farms for a living. Even the majority of the farmers are for this because their property is worth more and earns more as long as it stays green compared to going to a dry land

Though most are blaming the drought for these frustrating new norms, the farmers are not buying it. Not with controversial legalities such as the Endangered Species Act blatantly standing in between them and available water. Environmental regulations and the United States laws are receiving backlash for their representation of the resources exploited by human production. Though farmers and consumers will be forced to continue to adapt, regulations protecting highly underrepresented species and habitats should not be overlooked in order for Americans to continue to live blind to the fact that resources are limited. We can only resist adapting to accommodate species other than ourselves for so long before reality humbles us to the point of our own devastation.

There is an alarming situation emerging in the Southwestern United States where record setting drought conditions persist and the forecast for the future warns of continued drought conditions. Effects of the drought are as visible as they are alarming; Lake Mead, one of the largest reservoirs in this region is well below its high water mark leaving officials to wondering how they can continue to provide both water and electricity to the region. According to the National Climate Assessment 2014, ninety-two percent of this region uses irrigation to water crops accounting for seventy-nine percent of the water withdrawals (Garfin). In addition, a study by NASA concludes droughts in the Southwest United States may be longer and drier than previous droughts in the last one thousand years (Cole). The ongoing drought in the Southwestern United States is driving water reserves to dangerously low levels, adversely affecting an agricultural system that will have ripple effects throughout the entire country, unless the farmers of this region can learn to farm without water they may not survive.5

Water covers 70% of our planet, and it is easy to think that it will always be plentiful. However, freshwater, what we drink, bathe in, irrigate our farm fields with makes up only 3% of the world’s water, and two-thirds of that is stored in frozen glaciers or unavailable for our use. Many of the water systems that keep ecosystems thriving and feed a growing human population have become stressed. Rivers, lakes and aquifers are drying up or becoming too polluted to use. Already, 80 countries suffer from water shortages that threaten health and economies while 40 percent of the world—more than 2 billion people—does not have access to clean water or sanitation

It is an essential resource for sustaining life as well as central to agriculture and rural development, and is intrinsically linked to global challenges of food insecurity and poverty, climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as degradation and depletion of natural resources that affect the livelihoods of millions of people across the world. According to the World Bank, (2010) report, water is a scarce resource with multiple interwoven uses that range from drinking water, energy, irrigation, manufacturing things, transport of people and goods among others. The report further states that, more than one-sixth of the Worlds’ population does not have access to safe drinking water, with 80% living in rural areas thus access to water cannot not be guaranteed globally.