Turning [Lots of] Water into [a Little] Fuel

As if causing food shortages and contributing to the problem of antibiotics resistance isn't enough, a recent study puts another nail in the coffin of corn-based ethanol production.

On April 14, the Pioneer Press reported on a study by three researchers at the University of Minnesota, published in Environmental Science & Technology. They found the amount of water needed to produce the corn used to make ethanol varies incredibly by state. In the moderately rainy Midwest, it's 5 - 10 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol (plus another five gallons in the production process itself).

But assuming the goal is for ethanol production to be localized, many other states would get in on the ethanol action, as government biofuel mandates seem to imply. And that would lead to ethanol production in states with fuel-to-water ratios like this:

Georgia 1 : 100
Nebraska and Kansas: 1 : 500
Wyoming and Colorado: 1 : 1,000+
California: 1 : 2,000

I seem to recall that these dry states have other uses for this water. Hmm.