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Surur t1_jcjwxtm wrote

If this graphic is true, it clearly shows agriculture, which uses 95% of the water, should be the main target, and even a 5% reduction in their use would double the amount of water available to cities and industry.

Why are we even talking about anything else?

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BuddhaChrist_ideas t1_jckccsa wrote

I wonder if huge shifts to indoor / tower / hydroponic farming would help to mitigate some of the water losses. Also reducing our dependency on meat / dairy, as they seem to be fairly water dependent.

There have to be options, as we can't just stop producing food; but I'm sure we could change our practices and reduce waste water by a large margin.

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Surur t1_jckcuog wrote

I dont think we need radical changes, as the scope for better efficiency is so large e.g. simply switching to drip irrigation vs sprinklers saves 40%.

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Criticalhit_jk t1_jclyyls wrote

So this blatant disregard for others, right? Access to water isn't exactly a new issue, so why has everybody gone the "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas" route till now

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Surur t1_jcm1k52 wrote

Maybe they are waiting for the crisis so a resolution can be forced.

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manicdee33 t1_jcnsvdv wrote

The idea is that if the other side blinks (or in this case, dies) first you win.

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gamereiker t1_jcmhjw8 wrote

Just stop farming almonds.

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WildGrem7 t1_jcmxveh wrote

I love almonds but would give them up in a heartbeat if it meant better quality life for everyone.

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TheMadBug t1_jcnbth0 wrote

I know almonds get a deservedly bad wrap, but out of all the things you might pour into your coffee or cereal, cow milk is the least water efficient by almost double compared to almonds.

Granted Soy is on a whole different level of efficiency - but the overall message is meat and dairy are the biggest offenders if you want to fix things.

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Mayor__Defacto t1_jcngsp8 wrote

Farmers waste loads of water through a combination of dogma and resistance to change

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turtlechef t1_jclbwvu wrote

Even just reduce the amount of beef being produced would significantly drop our fresh water usage.

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sabres_guy t1_jcku2e3 wrote

That would be seen as going after farmers and business and a ton of people worldwide would instantly and instinctively kick back hard at even the notion when brought up politically.

Just talking about and creating a 10 year plan for reduction of fertilizer use in Canada brought huge backlash and more than a lot of misunderstanding about what the plan even was. Didn't matter though more than enough people saw it as destroying the food chain and then that's all it was viewed as within months.

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Surur t1_jckuwdn wrote

True. Look how ancient water "rights" is screwing the Colorado river right now.

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Artanthos t1_jckk0fx wrote

Because we know that there are other options.

All anyone has to do is look towards Israel to see them in practice.

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WaterPog t1_jclxkl2 wrote

Just wait until the hydrogen economy comes into the picture

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