this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2024
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United States | News & Politics

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Hay grown for cattle consumes nearly half the water drawn from Colorado River, study finds (www.latimes.com)
submitted 8 months ago by silence7@slrpnk.net to c/usa@lemmy.ml
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Archived copies of the article: ghostarchive.org archive.today

The study itself is here

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[–] punkideas@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

It's because you have to use your water to keep water rights. Flood irrigating alfalfa is an easy way to use up a lot of water to keep the rights without having to manage more complex farms. The current way that water rights works creates perverse incentives.