I’ve seen it estimated that it takes 2,000 gallons of water to produce a gallon of cow milk which would be twice what it takes to produce almond milk.
Some quick googling suggests there are 4 cups of almonds in a gallon of almond milk, and ~25 almonds per cup, so about 100 gallons of water per gallon of almond milk from just growing the almonds. That's a factor of 20x, if we believe it takes 2000 gallons of water to make a gallon of milk.
But another source on the top links of Google says it takes about 4 gallons of water to make a gallon of milk. This is a difference of 250x. That would imply almond milk takes 25 times as much.
It shocks me how such a seemingly basic consumer question could have such wild orders of magnitude variance in the apparent answers.
I mean at a minimum that lower number not taking into account the water needed to feed the cow, grow the cows food etc. I'm sure almonds is a lot of water but there is no way it's close to a dairy cow.
Re:The rise of alternative milks
by bryanlarsen on Saturday February 02, 2019 @08:59PM
(#19067297)
Do you count the rain that grew the grass the cows eat or not? In some water usage calculations they only count unnatural usage, ie irrigation and pumped drinking water.
4 to 1 is nowhere close to the right ratio for water to milk produced. The numbers vary a lot depending on the region and how you calculate them but the correct range is between 100:1 and 1000:1.
https://sciblogs.co.nz/waiology/2012/05/24/how-much-water-do...
The Oatly post here a few days ago may have been a shill, but it was enough for me to try it. Far closer to the taste of cows milk than Almond milk IMH(non Vegan)O.