"What do almonds, golf, fracking, and Kim Kardashian's lawn have in common?" asks Julia Lurie. "They've all been publicly shamed for their outsized water use during California's ongoing drought.
"But
you likely haven't heard as much about one of the state's major water
sucks: oil refineries, which are estimated to be the second-biggest
water user of non-ag businesses in the state (after golf).
"The
plants process more than 80 million gallons of oil per day, turning it
into products like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. According to the
Environmental Protection Agency, each gallon of oil takes between 1 and
2.5 gallons of water to refine, most of which is either dumped into the
ocean after it's used and treated, or evaporated as steam. Once in the
ocean, the water is unusable unless it's desalinated."
Read the rest of her article here: Yet Another Way That Oil Is Screwing The Environment.
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