What we have in Utah is a water management crisis! If the agricultural industry which uses 82% (4,182,000 of 5,100,000 acre feet) of the available water in Utah cut its use by just 15% (627,300 acre feet) it would save almost as much water that is used by the entire residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional sector which is 800,000 acre feet.
Alfalfa/hay farming represents 0.2% of the Utah economy but uses 68% (3,468,000 acre feet) of available water! Anything individuals can do to save water helps but getting Utah farmers to stop flood irrigation and stop growing alfalfa/hay is where the biggest focus should be in the effort to save water.A few articles below that go into more details with the numbers I used.
https://www.ksl.com/article/35054495/82-percent-of-utah-water-goes-to-farmers-mdash-heres-why
https://www.ksl.com/article/46345981/each-utahn-uses-an-average-of-242-gallons-of-water-per-day
https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2022/11/24/one-crop-uses-more-than-half
https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/editorial/2022/12/04/why-its-time-utah-buy-out
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