[sxp]

To put this in context, it takes about 1 gallon of water per 1g of almond [1]. And in California's dry climate, this water comes from groundwater that doesn't renew as fast as it's depleted. So the next time someone chastises you for your non-low flow showerhead that uses more than 2 almonds of water per minute, remember to put the numbers in context.

1. Numbers from a pro-almond group: https://www.almonds.org/why-almonds/growing-good/water-wise

[ricardbejarano]

I don't know why, but the fact that a "pro-almond group" exists chuckled me up.

[Ekaros]

There is corruption for everything money touches...

I actually wonder if there is not single moderately sized industry that does not have some interest group...

[mikrl]

Is that the Almond Front of California, or the Californian Almond Front?

[triceratops]

I'd non-ironically join that. Almonds are the bees knees. Almond milk is an atrocity though.

[daedrdev]

Almonds alone are like half of all urban water use in california.

[daedrdev]

More specifically, farming and urban use 50% of the water California gets (river outflows to the sea are the other main place water ends up) Urban use is 10% and farming is 40% of that total water input. Almonds alone are 7% of ALL water, almost as much as the 10% urban.

The level of subsidy the relatively unimportant crops get with their basically free water is astounding, especially considering the high urban prices of water