The Cost of Ethanol, in Water

The oft-touted but largely overhhyped band-aid/hat trick that is Ethanol may have another significant negative impact beyond it's questionable energy input cost/output ratio and potential impact on the food economy, namely the amount of water it uses.

From MIT's Technology Review:

Prior studies have estimated, based on national production averages, that one liter of corn-derived ethanol should require 263 to 784 liters of water to both grow the crop and convert it into fuel. Now, researchers at the University of Minnesota have concluded that the amount of water used in ethanol production varies hugely from state to state, ranging from 5 to 2,138 liters of water per liter of ethanol, depending on regional irrigation needs.