In the Jan. 28 Salt Lake Tribune article “As Utah dries up, lawmakers look for smarter ways to transfer, use — and not use — water,” there is one statistic that is the most crucial to consider: Eighty percent of our state’s water goes toward agriculture.
What wasn’t mentioned was that half of the water goes to one crop alone: alfalfa. That is a notoriously thirsty crop, most of which is exported to China and California to use as feed for dairy cows.
So when we start talking about ways to conserve water in a state where fresh water supplies are rapidly dwindling, putting the onus on citizens to reduce per-capita consumption is incredibly misleading and insulting.
Saving water in any way is important, no doubt. But a mere 10 percent of the water in our state includes all of the water we use at our homes, from showering to watering the lawn.
It may be hard to stomach, but cutting back on dairy (and beef, for that matter) is the most significant thing we can do as a state, and as a country, to save our water.
Chris Shapard, Salt Lake City
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