An analysis of the water-footprints of foods with respect to their protein content. Author: Stephen Franklin
In February 2014, the California drought reached for the first time in the 54-year history of the State Water Project to shortages of water supplies.
on April 1, 2015, lack of water due to low snowpack prompted California governor Jerry Brown to order mandatory water restrictions that would reduce municipal water use by 25%.
Those restrictions focused on municipal water use.
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/docs/040115_executive_order.pdf
http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/emergency_regulations_waterconservation.shtml
Articles explaining how agricultural water use is much higher than municipal use:
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article17332904.html
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/30/how-growers-gamed-california-s-drought.html
Articles that showed the almond as symbolic of ineffective water restrictions:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/30/how-growers-gamed-california-s-drought.html
http://www.splendidtable.org/story/farming-in-californias-drought-almonds-take-more-total-water-than-any-other-crop
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/01/california-drought-almonds-water-use
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/wheres-californias-water-going
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/04/real-problem-almonds
http://gizmodo.com/how-the-drought-is-devastating-californias-1-food-exp-1517881858
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-07/california-s-almond-farmers-have-become-a-target
Articles denouncing the over-emphasis of almonds as a water-intensive crop in favor of alfalfa:
http://gizmodo.com/seriously-stop-demonizing-almonds-1696065939
http://www.alternet.org/environment/you-boycott-all-california-almonds-read
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/04/almonds_in_california_they_use_up_a_lot_of_water_but_they_deserve_a_place.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/150409-water-agriculture-cattle-dairy-conservation-ngfood/
Plants http://waterfootprint.org/media/downloads/Report47-Appendix-II.zip
Animals http://waterfootprint.org/media/downloads/Report48-Appendix-V.zip
Nutrition http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/doc/index
water_footprint.R: An R script which downloads the datasets and returns the data table: water_footprint_table.RData.
water_footprint_analysis.Rmd: An R Markdown document which explores data models.
water_nutritional_efficiency.Rmd: The published report.