A recent study by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) demonstrates that marijuana cultivation poses a serious threat to Northern California rivers and aquatic species. The study found that large marijuana plants use about 22 liters of water per day, per plant, which is almost double the amount of water used to grow wine grapes. “All of the streams that we monitored on the watersheds with large-scale marijuana cultivation went dry” states Scott Bauer, a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the study's lead author. "The only stream we monitored that didn't go dry contained no observed marijuana cultivation." All four watersheds are home to coho salmon, which are listed as threatened on the state and federal levels, and have been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as suffering from sedimentation and elevated temperatures. Drawing down these water levels puts the salmon at greater risk.
