Water is the most important aspect of dairy farming; how it gets to the dairy, who says how it is used, and how it is treated. There are many regulations, laws, and cultural norms that govern the use of water, but there is more to water than the amount used. The quality of water and how it is treated is also important. If a cow has an organic diet, but is being pumped with chemically treated water, or water that is filthy, what is the purpose of organic dairy farming?
When someone looks to buy land for a dairy, “The most outstanding aspect to any plot of land is access to water” (Lie-Nielsen pg.47). Back East, it may be easy to find a stream, pond, or other source of water. In the West, it usually relies on man made source, for example, the Hoover dam when built was expecting to serve “seven Basin states” (Kwak, 2014). So, considering the source is important. Wells are expensive to have drilled but cheap to keep, canals are usually seasonally restricted, and city water is also expensive but consistent.
Understanding who governs your water is important especially during a drought. Understanding the laws of the land can prevent you from getting into trouble and losing your investment. Water laws are revised often, so get involved, and get to know your neighbor because in Utah “the first landowner to beneficially use or divert water from a groundwater source is given priority over later users” (NACL 2019). Meaning if your source of water flows through a more senior landowner than yours and there is a drought, they can legally take all the water.
This paragraph is more for the consumer of milk. Records show that even 2,000 years ago there is written proof that “‘impure water should be purified by being boiled over a fire, or being heated in the sun, or by dipping a heated iron into it, or it may be purified by filtration through sand and coarse gravel and then allowed to cool’ […] ‘It is good to keep water in copper vessels, to expose it to sunlight, and filter through charcoal” (Angelakis pg.23), so obviously water is being treated today, and If you are spending extra money on organic milk, understanding where the cows producing your milk are getting their water is important. There are chemicals out to help reduce bacteria, fungus, scale, etc. that may be going into your cows water. Much of the organic requirements for dairy cows focuses on food and shots, but there is little to be said about the water.
This is important because the decisions made now affect us and the generations to come. If water sources and treatment are not considered, they may get out of hand, and with water being the most essential substance for all life (after the sun), it is important to protect. To act on this, I will be more careful about my milk source, so I know what water is making up my dairy source.
Sources:
Angelakis, Andreas N, et al. Evolution of Water Supply through the Millenia. IWA Publishing, 2012. https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book/472/Evolution-of-Water-Supply-Through-the-Millennia
Kwak, Young Hoon, et al. “What We can Learn from the Hoover Dam Project That Influenced Modern Project Management?” Elsevier, vol. 32, no. 2, Feb. 2014, pp. 256–264., https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786313000422?via=ihub.
Lie-Nielsen, Kirsten. So You Want to Be a Modern Homesteader?: All the Dirt on Living the Good Life. New Society Publishers, 2019.
HB0039, le.utah.gov/~2020/bills/static/HB0039.html#73-10g-202. https://nationalaglawcenter.org/overview/water-law/
Cows: Quality of their 70% 