Millions of gallons are used every day to grow animal crops, wash factory farms and given to animals as drinking water. 5% of US water used is domestic that contributed to washing clothes, taking a shower, dishes, or gardening. Animal agriculture accounts for 55% of US water use (Meat and the Environment). A cow can drink 50 gallons of water per day and even more when the temperatures get higher. It takes 683 gallons of water to create 1 gallon of milk and 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound beef. To create 1 pound of beef you could fill approximately 50 bathtubs with water. Whereas it only takes 244 gallons of water to produce a pound of tofu. The Environmental Protection Agency says that “Animal agriculture is the number one cause of water pollution” (Meat and the Environment). They waste more water and cause more water pollution than any other industrial factories, combined. This is mostly because of the mass amounts of animal poop and waste spilling into waterways. The animal sewage from the farms is stored in gigantic waste cesspools. The contents of these pools, include animal feces and blood they are also filled with bacteria and viruses. In North Carolina alone farms produce enough of this liquid manure in a year to fill 15,000 Olympic size pools. You may be wondering how they dispose of all this toxic waste? The farms spray the liquid manure as a fine mist into the air. The mist is then carried by the wind to the homes of people who live nearby. They are forced to inhale the toxins and pathogens. “The airborne toxic chemicals can cause inflammatory, immune, irritation, and neurochemical problems in humans” said the California state senate (North Carolina's Factory Farms Produce 15,000 Olympic Pools Worth of Waste Each Year).
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