by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
The Daily Sentinel
I met a guy at a golf course recently who expressed grave concern about the health of the grass this summer because of Colorado’s ongoing drought. We hadn’t met before and knew nothing of each other’s backgrounds. But he entertained me with a tirade about Colorado’s waste of water, especially for agriculture. He asserted that 85% of Colorado’s precious water is used to raise livestock and feed for livestock, an outrage when there is so little for watering the greens and fairways.
I was tempted to ask the man if he is a vegetarian, but I didn’t because I already knew the answer. Of course he is not a vegetarian; he is one of those activists who wants everyone else to change their lifestyles. The kind who wants everyone else to ride the bus, join carpools, turn off their air conditioners, stop watering lawns, and make other sacrifices he himself has never considered. I’d never met him, but I know him.
His numbers were questionable. Agriculture is often estimated to use 85% of the state’s developed water. However, that includes not only livestock and feed production, but also vegetables, potatoes, onions, sugar beets, fruit, vineyards, and nursery crops, collectively consuming 20-30% of the state’s developed water. Livestock production and growing livestock feed probably uses 60-70% of the water, not the 85% he claimed.
Yet those raw numbers tell only a minor part of the story. Most people may not associate Colorado with farming and ranching, like Nebraska or Wyoming. But agriculture is central to the state’s economy, history, culture, and way of life.
