[Saccopoo]

Originally Posted by Coogs

Sac,

I'm guessing we are talking corn fed beef, and how much water it takes to raise corn vs how many pounds of corn a cow has to eat before said cow is ready for market.

Most all of that water comes in the form of rain, and soaks right into the ground anyway, so it is not like our fresh water supply is being wasted at your rate stated for every single pound of beef produced.

Oglallala aquifer. Cattle industry. Bad combination.

Everywhere you look today, particularly in the western United States, people are seeking to conserve water. You see people washing their cars less often. People are installing low-flow showerheads and sink fixtures and low-flow toilets. You see people using drought-resistant landscaping. The vigilant turn off the water at the sink when brushing their teeth, except to rinse the brush, and when shaving, except to rinse the blade.
These measures are prudent and helpful, but all of them combined don't save anywhere near the amount of water you would save by shifting toward a plant-based diet.

The great Ogallala aquifer is the largest body of fresh water on Earth, and it lies underneath some of the richest farmland in the world -- the great American grain belt. But things are changing. The Ogallala is a fossil aquifer, which means the water in it is left from the melted glaciers of the last Ice Age. It's not like a reservoir or river, which are replenished regularly from rainfuall. When the water in the aquifer is gone, it's gone.

More than 13 trillion gallons of water are taken from the aquifer every year, with the vast majority used to produce beef. More water is withdrawn from the Ogallala aquifer every year for beef production than is used to grow all the fruits and vegetables in the entire country. If we continue pumping out the Ogallala at current rates, it's only a matter of time before most of the wells in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico go dry, and portions of these states become scarcely habitable for human beings. This scenario is being predicted by many leading environmentalists.