Author and water expert Robert Glennon told an audience at a forum in Chico, Calif. Wednesday that the state should avoid expanded ethanol production as a way to save water, according to the Chico Enterprise Record.

Glennon is the author of "Unquenchable: America's Water Crisis and What To Do About It." He is the Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy at the University of Arizona.

He told the crowd that the ethanol process takes four gallons of water for every gallon of ethanol, and between 1,700-2,500 gallons of water to grow enough corn for one gallon of ethanol.

(Chico Enterprise Record, Oct. 28, 2009)

(http://www.chicoer.com/…)

DTN: From my reporting on water use and ethanol one thing has become clear. Ethanol plants themselves are relatively small-scale water users. However, if a plant operates in an area that already has a low water table or other issues with ground water supplies, ethanol production has the potential to harm supplies. An ethanol plant, on average, uses about the same amount of water per year as does an 18-hole golf course. (Todd Neeley)