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<div>Interesting numbers re how much water does it take to produce
ethanol. Including water for irrigating the corn crop feed-stock: 1700
gallons of water for each gallon of ethanol produced.</div>
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<div>Mark</div>
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How much water does it take to produce ethanol?<br>
<br>
By Nate Jenkins of the Associated Press<br>
August 13, 2007<br>
<br>
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. - The growing thirst for ethanol takes a lot of
water to quench, but less than many people believe and not enough to
cause serious problems, experts told farmers.<br>
<br>
Last year in Nebraska, the nation's third-leading ethanol producer, it
took 2 billion gallons of water at 15 ethanol plants to churn out 676
million gallons of the alternative fuel, Derrel Martin, an irrigation
and water resources engineer said Thursday.<br>
<br>
But roughly 900 billion gallons of rain water falls annually in
Lincoln County, Martin said, addressing the public perception that
ethanol production takes an inordinate amount of water.<br>
<br>
"These plants are not consuming a huge amount of water," he
said.<br>
<br>
Martin spoke during an agriculture conference in North Platte that
focused on water. Nebraska is aggressively pushing development of
ethanol plants and is poised to become the second-leading producer in
the country later this year. At the same time, it is struggling to
meet water demands of its farmers and those in neighboring states who
rely on water that passes through Nebraska.<br>
<br>
A longtime analyst of ethanol production disagreed with Martin and
questioned his figures, saying it takes an average of about 15 gallons
of water to produce a gallon of ethanol - much higher than the roughly
three gallons of water per gallon of ethanol Martin cited.<br>
<br>
Groundwater tables in some states, including Missouri, have been drawn
down to dangerously low levels near some ethanol plants, said David
Pimentel, an ecology and agriculture professor at Cornell
University.<br>
<br>
The figures cited by both Martin and Pimentel include only a plant's
production of ethanol, not the water it takes to grow corn. After
adding that, about 1,700 gallons are needed to produce every gallon of
ethanol, Pimentel said.<br>
<br>
The entire water-use picture, coupled with the fuel it takes to
produce ethanol, makes long-term, mass production of ethanol
unsustainable, Pimentel said.<br>
<br>
"I wish it were sustainable, I'm an agriculturalist," he
said. "I wish this whole ethanol deal was a major benefit, but
you've got to be a scientist first and an agriculturalist
second."<br>
<br>
Martin said the question of whether increased corn production and the
irrigation it requires will overburden the state's water supply is an
important one that does not yet have a clear answer.<br>
<br>
Moratoriums on new groundwater wells are already in place in some
regions, such as along the Platte River, and the Republican River
basin has caps on groundwater use.<br>
<br>
The state faces a test over whether it will control water use in
fragile areas or succumb to the financial allure of planting more
irrigated corn to meet ethanol demands, Martin said.<br>
<br>
Corn prices have risen with ethanol production. There are 19 percent
more acres of irrigated corn this year across the country, including
about one million more irrigated acres in Nebraska, he said.<br>
<br>
Plans designed to curtail water use in some basins could become
"toothless tigers" in the face of such market pressures, he
said.<br>
<br>
On the Net:<br>
Nebraska Ethanol Board: http://www.ne-ethanol.org/</font></div>
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