Government report looks at ethanol's use of water
Government report looks at ethanol's use of water
Government report looks at ethanol's use of water
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A new government report examining whether increased biofuels use could pinch the nation's water resources says farmers in the Northern Plains use considerably more water to produce a gallon of corn ethanol than growers in other parts of the country.
An ethanol industry group says the report offers little new insight and the vast majority of ethanol is produced from rain-fed corn.The November study from the Government Accountability Office quotes Argonne National Laboratory data saying that farmers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas use, on average, 323.6 gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol from corn, with all but 3 of those gallons used for irrigation.
The GAO said that's 20 to 30 times the amount of water used in the U.S. Department of agriculture's two other main corn producing regions, where rainfall is more plentiful.
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posted by Tom Karst @ 6:06 AM
1 Comments:
Water use needs to be put in proper perspective, and it is likely the GAO report exaggerates the water use number for corn by counting irrigation. In reality, nearly 9 out of 10 acres of corn nationwide require no water other than natural rainfall. It is patently unfair for GAO or any entity to "penalize" or count against corn growers the use of rainfall water by corn crops. If rainfall lands in a parking lot at the GAO building and runs off into the Washington, DC storm sewer system and ends up in the Potomac or Anacostia Rivers nearby DC, should that rainwater be "counted" against the GAO in terms of its "water footprint?"
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