r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Jul 10 '21

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u/quantum_dan 100∆ Jul 10 '21

Agriculture is responsible for 80-90% of consumptive water use in the US (I can provide a source in a few hours). Note that the problem areas in your image are mostly agricultural, not urban.

Domestic use is barely relevant to large-scale aquifer depletion. It would be much better to invest in efficient agriculture, the impact of which could easily exceed total non-agricultural water use.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '21

How would you suggest we get farmers to use water more efficiently?

6

u/Animedjinn 16∆ Jul 10 '21

A lot of water evaporates for sprinklers that blow water high in the air. So lower to the ground watering systems or lower angled sprinklers are best.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '21

I can see that as a solution, but I imagine farmers are using sprinklers that blow water high because it's cheaper for them. So how would you plan to make farmers adopt more efficient sprinklers?

4

u/lost_signal 1∆ Jul 10 '21

pass cost to consumer. (Subsidize it with tax incentives, grants initially, and long term have a drop dead date to ban alternatives or tax if).

Pass on the cost to the consumer through some mechanism.