The Environmental Downside of Cannabis Cultivation | JSTOR Daily

Note: 22 liters is 5.8 gallons of water a day per plant.

In California, the water-hungry crop is often grown in remote, forested watersheds and requires almost 22 liters of water per plant a day during the growing season, which adds up to three billion liters per square kilometer of greenhouse-grown plants between June and October, according to some research. During the low flow period, irrigation demands for cultivation can exceed the amount of water flowing in a river, leaving little water to sustain aquatic life.

The Environmental Downside of Cannabis Cultivation | JSTOR Daily

Wide-scale cannabis cultivation is causing environmental damage. Federal regulations could change this.