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US: Increase in cannabis cultivation could impact water resources

Cannabis cultivation could have a significant effect on groundwater and surface water resources when combined with residential use, evidence from a new study suggests.

Researchers in Canada and the US investigated potential reductions in streamflow, caused by groundwater pumping for cannabis irrigation, in the Navarro River in Mendocino County, California, and contextualized it by comparing it with residential groundwater use.

Reporting their findings in the journal Environmental Research Communications, they note that the combination of cannabis cultivation and residential use may cause significant streamflow depletion, with the largest impacts in late summer when streams and local fish species depend most on groundwater inflows.

Dr. Sam Zipper, from the University of Kansas, U.S., is the study's lead author. He said: "Cannabis is an emerging agricultural frontier, but thanks to its long illegal and quasi-legal history, we know very little about the impacts of cannabis cultivation on water resources.

Read more at phys.org

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