U.S. Farms Waste A Lot Of Water — But This Tech Could Help

There are many aspects to this, but one thing that was not mentioned is Soil and how it relates to this issue. Healthy, fertile, high organic-content soils are able to hold and keep much more water in place. On the other hand, infertile, "desertic" soils can't do this and water runs off, even when you irrigate. So by improving soil quality we could drastically reduce irrigation requirements overall. Not to mention higher nutritional value in food and higher yield as well. There is a movement called Save Soil showing how this can be done worldwide to solve these kinds of issues.

The other thing that isn't said here is that the way water rights work in the southwest is that states and farms get a certain allotment if you don't use it you lose it.. so growing thirsty crops is something a lot of farmers will do to keep their water rights.

Many of these farms can reuse treated grey water from municipal sewage plants. Israel claims to use about 85-90% of their grey water for agriculture.

Not even farms but USA households waste SOOOOOO much water not for use, no I am not going after long showers or unnecessary bathtubs, jacoozi or others. But, the biggest source is yes you guessed it sprinkler system at home. 75% of water usage is just "grass irrigation", grass is most irrigated crop in USA. I have seen sprinkler system running g for full hour! You know what, basically the grass irrigation can be done and over within 10 mins. But people run it for 45min -1 hour all four program in mng and evening. People haven't paid any attention to their own systems in house. First 30 mins tree irrigation happens, which is the mulch getting over saturated with water and all water is not required that much. Then second, third and fourth program for set kg sprinkler system run for 45 min. Can you imagine of you took shower for 45mins or 1 hour? It sounds ridiculous. Can you drink 10 days worth of water in one day? Nope! Neither can your tree or your soul or earth. And the water percolating is so slow that ground water replenishment doesn't happen that quickly as people judge. And city drainage and landscaping is so absurd that I see water running over in the drain on the road. If people would pay attention, Bermuda grass is soooo resilient it will surprise them, how much it can take. You don't have to drown the lawn. Stop wasting city drinking water supply into grass.

If the true unsubsidized cost of water had been incremented into the system decades ago the solving of this dilemma would have already been happening. Cheap water was always an incentive for waste.

Water cuts for farmers should prioritize cutting the water of farms which mainly export out of the United States so it could give a fair chance to local farmers to produce and sell locally

Encouraging report in a year of drought doom news. CNBC did it's job to show so many new ways to save water so our growers can still grow enough, profitably. Always nice to see a complex topic made understandable.

As a California farmer and advocate, farms here in the Central Valley have significantly reduced water usage. Many have been using micro jet sprinklers for years already. Farms have also been forced to fallow a third of their ground here. They have also cut crop production by about 40% to be in compliance with sgma

Until water comes with a monetary cost, the waste will continue. Yes, the price of food will go up but that may be the cheapest way to pay for the water that is used and wasted. The more efficient farmers are with water the more profitable they will be relative to their competitors. Certainly not a popular move for sure. We all want everything for free or cheap.

There are certainly a lot of things we could be doing, but we have to wrestle with the economics of the situation. Many farmers are forced to absorb the costs of upgrades due to pricing pressure, which benefits the wasters not the savers. The need to secure our food supply should be seen as a national issue, and farmers should be able to easily access funds that allow them to invest in upgrading irrigation, ongoing subsidies for maintenance, ongoing education, and regulatory oversight to ensure that the farms do indeed utilize the upgraded irrigation techniques. There are, of course, many other issues that must be addressed such as water rights, usage claims, and "get big or get out" commercialization. Complex problems have complex solutions. It is going to take multiple layered solutions to properly address this situation. The more we recognize that hydrology is impacted by things like tree cover, native plants vs. non-natives, earthworks, etc., the better. I strongly believe that California's drought situation would be different if its forests were not devastated by logging. All that tree cover cooling the ground, slowing water, transpiring, and stopping the encroachment of forbs into the forest floor that fuel abnormal fire cycles, it would be a different story.

Reminder even from this non-vegan but from a farming family that over 80% of the crops grown in the US are exclusively for animal feed. Restructuring our culture to have a Mediterranean diet and/or vegetarian diet with more well rounded consumptions (although we can do without almond milk) are necessary for moving forward if we’re to survive.

Water isn't exactly wasted. Water goes through cycles. It returns to the atmosphere, ground, and lakes/rivers...

The federal government should be paying for all drip irrigation systems for every farm that's impacted in these region. farmers are already stretched financially and run on thin margins, they need help. We need to ensure our food supplies are solid.

In the midst of all these comments on the topic at hand, I am here simply to point out that the script writer confused “exasperate” with “exacerbate” at 2:24. That aside, a very interesting video!

A huge problem is what is being grown in these arid climates. A Saudi Arabian company takes huge amounts of water to grow things like alfala and almonds in the deserts of Arizona. Until this type of craziness ends, the water issues will only get worse.

I am a Farmer from Missouri. California should not raise crops that can be raised elsewhere. No corn, cotton, alfalfa etc. And move the dairies back to the Midwest (Wisconsin) so all the silage will not need to be raised in the desert SW. Just a thought. Save the Cali Central Valley for high value crops.

Interesting that I always hear about this drought and how we need to save water. How about recycling what you use.

Israel and the Netherlands are leaps ahead of the US in water recycling and conservation. It’s not new. US is used to doing things “the way we always do it”.

65% of the water in my State goes to one crop, alfalfa. This contributes about 1% of the State's GDP. The Ag program at Utah State brags about their capture and reuse of flood irrigation overrun but it's still flood irrigation. They want to ignore USDA and UC Davis work in California. Israel uses underground drip irrigation for feed crops like alfalfa. When will the power structure in my State ever use best practices?

In California, agriculture accounts for 80% of our water usage - the kicker? Agriculture accounts for only 3% of California’s GDP. Alfalfa is the number one water consuming crop yet in a restaurant the other day, I was offered beef raised in Idaho !