Letters to the Editor: To survive climate change, California must rein in factory farms

To the editor: The Times’ reporting is correct about California approaching several climate change tipping points, including depletion of groundwater.

Food and Water Watch estimates that it takes 142 million gallons of water a day to maintain the dairy cows on California’s mega-dairies — more than enough water to provide the daily recommended indoor water usage for every resident of San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego combined.

For example, Tulare County has nearly 500,000 dairy cows on factory farms and is acutely impacted by the drought and water shortage, with more than 400 personal wells reported dry in Tulare County from January 2021 through November 2022.

To quell the extreme flooding and droughts, Gov. Gavin Newsom must rein in the water abuse of large, corporate agriculture, which is guzzling up our precious resource as people struggle for access to this basic human right.

Chirag Bhakta, Washington

The writer is California director for Food and Water Watch.