The Opportunity Cost of Water Use: California Marijuana Edition.

I previously posted this graphic that shows how water intensive some agricultural products are.  California is a major source for these food items, and as we know there is a water shortage in some of the areas most in need of water for growing these crops.

I just came across this statistic from The Smithsonian:

Pot plants, says the Press Democrat, can take anywhere from 6 to 15 gallons of water per day throughout the growing season. To feed the region's grow ops, then, takes upwards of 720,000 gallons of water per day. By comparison, corn takes, roughly, 9 gallons of water per day per plant.

Nice example for a discussion on Opportunity Cost for scarce water consumption.