It is common to hear things like it takes one gallon of water to create a single almond, or watering a lawn can take X gallons per month/year, or it takes X gallons to make one pound of beef or yield X pounds of alfalfa.
My question is, is that water “gone forever”? Or does the water thats used return to the water table/cycle in some other form. When you water the lawn does a large amount of that seep into the ground, evaporate, and return to the atmosphere?
Or is the water used in these ways truly gone forever (in terms of humans being able to use it again)?
It’s a cycle, but it’s not in balance.
There is a lot of water on earth. Most of it is salt water which is not usable for crops or consumption etc.
The graphics on this Wikipedia will give you an idea of the distribution: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_distribution_on_Earth
The water we use for food production, watering lawns, bathing and toilet flushes is pumped from the fresh ground water, which is only about 0.76% of all water on earth.
When we use water, it will eventually, one way or the other, flow into the sea, where it turns into salt water. The evaporation from the sea will create clouds that will rain and seep down to become fresh ground water again.
The problem is that we are basically taking the tiniest bit and turning it into the largest faster than it can be replenished.