WATER'S YOUR PROBLEM?

A new report from FAO says livestock production contributes to the world's most pressing environmental problems, including global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity.

This week I was able to cosy up to read 'Livestock's Long Shadow: Environmental Issues and Options'; a United Nations report released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. So far we have focused on the issues surrounding greenhouse gas emissions as a result of meat production and the responsibility of the consumers in contributing to the meat consumption and trend. 

Having read the report, it has highlighted a few important things on the correlation between the livestock sector and global environmental change. I will be writing about other vital environmental problems related to meat production in later posts, and will be looking at possible solutions outlined by the report. These solutions are mainly focused on the technical and political levels in reducing the environmental harm that has and will be caused as a result of meat production.

Today we will touch upon water use and the solutions from a political level to cover how global environmental change can be reduced.

The world is slowly opening their eyes to more issues from freshwater shortage, scarcity and depletion. 64% of the world'spopulation is expected to live in water-stressed basins by 2025. Thelivestock sector accounts for up to 8% of the global human water use (mainly through irrigation for feedcrops).

i) Water Overuse

It is estimated that it takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of meat (about 5-8 servings of meat). For comparison it takes only 25 gallons of water to produce one pound of wheat (enough to make one loaf of whole wheat bread). Irrigation for feed crops contributes significantly to this overuse of water. Soy and corn are heavily irrigated crops in the U.S. and are used extensively for livestock feed. Most of the grain produced in this country is for livestock production.

Since a large proportion of the grain produced is feed for livestock shows precisely how the grains could be instead, directly created into food for humans. Thus the extra step of feeding livestock (along with the negative environmental impacts associated) could be skipped. 

ii) Water Contamination and Pollution:

The main contributors to water pollution include animal waste, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilisers and pesticides used in feed production and sediments from eroded pastures.

Livestock operations overuse water and may lead to water contamination. The large amount of waste pro­duced on factory farms exceeds the capacity of nearby cropland to absorb it. As a result, manure goes from being a valuable agricultural resource to what is essentially toxic waste. Nitrates, heavy metals, and antibiotics present in manure can seep into groundwater and pollute surface water. Furthermore, when manure lagoons leak or burst, again, nitrates become exposed to the water we drink. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned that E. Coli, salmonella, and Giardia found in dairy cattle waste can contaminate drinking water and cause acute gastroenteritis, fever, kidney failure, and even death. It not only affects humans,  but also the sea animals too. There have been numerous instances where this has killed off thousands of fish. No wonder people are saying fish are becoming more scarce!

Water pollution leads to fish death

Water pollution can lead to several undesired results, it contributes to eutrophication; a process where water bodies receive excess nutrients that stimulate excessive plant growth. It could also lead to "dead" zones/hypoxia in coastal areas, this is causes regions of water that lack oxygen necessary to support animal life and as a consequence, become a cause for extinction. Not only does water pollution affect animal life, but also degrades coral reefs. Apart from affecting animals and plants, water pollution causes human health problems due to reusing water in the water cycle and can cause an emergence of antibiotic resistance.

Livestock also affects the replenishment of freshwater by compacting soil, reducing infiltration, degrading the banks of watercourses, drying up floodplains and lowering water tables.

Please save us...

How can water pollution be avoided?

The best way to mitigate water pollution would be to better manage animal waste. This is important as animal waste can cause excess nutrients and pathogens to enter and harm water quality; instead the waste could be reused as a natural fertiliser for crops. Furthermore, better diets for the livestock can improve nutrient absorption.

Possible solutions:

Since water pollution is a problem for not only plants and animals, but humans too, it means humans should put more care into reducing water pollution where possible. I have broken down some possible solutions in improving efficiency of water  use. The first solution is to improve the efficiency of irrigation systems such that there are no unnecessary water losses.

The fact that water is often free and easily available causes the 'free rider effect' used in Economics, where a resource may be over exploited since it is priced at 0. To avoid this, water should be priced at a level that takes the externality into account. Similarly, there should be regulatory quantitative frameworks to limit usage. 

To reduce concentrated areas of livestock rearing especially near cities, zoning regulations and taxes can help to control this. As a result, the harmful effects on human health can be restricted too. 

Happy Meatless Monday!

Tune in next Monday for a new post on Land Degradation.