Smoking Weed Contributes to California’s Drought

July 18, 2015 – It’s true.  If you’re using marijuana from California, you are contributing to the water shortage.  John Kelvey writing on the web site Nautilus, compares water use by California’s three intoxicants – wine, beer and pot.

I’m offended that wine is lumped in with pot, but we’ll save that for another day.  The important thing to know is that vines do well in dry
conditions and, in fact, the more stressed they are, the better the flavor of the grapes.  There are vineyards all over the world, including in the Napa Valley, that are not irrigated at all.  Mr. Kelvey does point out, however, that it is the parched Central Valley that needs water since the growers there are more interested in tonnage than quality.  Compare three to four tons of grapes an acre in fine wine producing areas to 10-12 tons an acre in the Central Valley.  It’s the lower end wines that are using the water.  So trade up, wine lovers!

When it comes to beer, most of the craft beer producers purchase grains and hops from outside the state slashing water requirements considerably.  Kelvey says, “What water the industry does use—for malting, brewing, and cleaning—amounts to just 93-million gallons per annum.”

Both the wine and craft brewing industries have taken steps, and continue to find ways to mitigate their water usage.
Now let’s look at marijuana growers.  Weed is thirsty. Kelvey cites a recent study, conducted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, that “concluded that the demand for water to grow pot is greater than the total amount of water in the streams of some watersheds during the dry season, presenting a potentially lethal threat to salmon and steelhead trout.”  Plus large outdoor marijuana operations also leak pesticides, fertilizer, fuel, and other detritus into streams. This problem existed prior to the drought, but is certainly being exacerbated by it, according to North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Kelvey goes on to say, “A single pot plant can slurp as much as 22.7 liters—just less than 6 gallons—of water per day. That demand for water was manageable when growers mainly limited their operations to between one and 100 plants grown indoors or on their property, per California law. But as demand has increased, so have the number of very large, often illegal grows in the dense forests of Mendocino, Humboldt, and Trinity counties—the so-called Emerald Triangle—where growers who often trespass on public lands are sucking some streams dry to feed thousands of marijuana plants.”

It is so serious that the North Coast Regional Water Control Board is proposing regulations requiring pot growers to participate in a water use permit system.  Good luck with that!

So a message to potheads, before you launch into a diatribe about saving the planet and being a “greenie” just remember that the joint you are smoking probably caused extensive damage to animal and plant life.  Have a cup of coffee.  It’s supposed to be good for your heart.