[legostormtroopr]

But that 12 litres of water doesn't "disappear". It sits in the ground, it persperates in to the air, it becomes a part of the water cycle.

Its not like we are destroying 12 litres of water per almond (or I hope not).

[UncleMeat]

We have plenty of water. What we don't have is plenty of water in all the right places. Moving water is expensive. Water carried by the water cycle away to another region where there is little agriculture is roughly equivalent to disappearing it.

[mschuster91]

The key thing is the supply of water is limited, no matter where it ends up at. And as the supply of water is so limited, it is better from a point of efficiency to produce goods with a higher value for humans.

[imtringued]

It's not much use to us in the oceans.