California Drought And Its Effects On The Drought

How do we halt a seemingly endless drought? California has many varying climates from the chilly Sierra Mountains to the parched deserts of Death Valley, but today they all have one thing in common: they are in a drought. The California drought has been a creeping phenomenon that has taken a hold of the state for the past five years. There has been little rain, soaring temperatures, and dropping water levels. The lack of water lead to severe water cuts, the spread of wildfire, and thirsty crops. In order to end the drought, California must conserve water.

Right now there is a drought in California and it is due to the water usage. Bach in the gold rush due to miners mining for gold, the rivers became polluted and freshwater became limited. After the earthquake in San Francisco that cause a big fire, San Francisco was in dire need of water so they made a plan to built a dam in Hetch Hetchy. Many people argue as to whether to build the dam and in the end the dam was built and that has shape California’s water system hugely. The use of water in California now has not been in the best interest of the state because The amount of water use for agriculture is disportional, laws are making us use more water than needed and the Indians and environment are being harm.

“For Angelica Gallegos, the worst part has been going without a shower for five months” (Source 2). There is an ongoing drought in California citizens need water, however farmers need it too. California should control aquifers.

The drought in California has seriously impacted California in a negative way and will continue to impact California negatively if it continues. Drought in California has always played a huge part in California’s geography and without action to help prevent the affects of long lasting droughts California will continue to suffer severe negative effects, which can lead to serious negative impact on the rest of the country as well.

Showering is glorious. Who doesn’t love the feeling of warm water rushing over them? The soothing, cathartic sound of the showerhead running full force is enough to put anyone into a coma. It’s the opiate of the masses-- a way to calm down, to wash up, to feel warm and protected in a room where oneself is not expected to interact with anyone else. However, if one lives in California, extensively long showers are treated like sneaking drugs in rehab: they’re forbidden, damaging to people around you and generally just a bad idea. Long showers in California are considered a forbidden fruit for one main reason: California has been in a drought for around four years (Nicholson), and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. According to Seametrics.com, the drought covers 98% of the state and 44% of of California is labelled as “exceptional”-- the worst level of drought possible. Media coverage on all aspects of the California drought has been extensive, encompassing everything from the traditional news article to art shows documenting falling water levels around the state, which serve to keep the public informed and up-to-date on the latest drought news. Two pieces of writing that serve this purpose are Angela Fritz’s article for The Washington Post, “California drought endures as snowfall pack falls short of El Nino expectations,” and William Waterway’s poem on poemhunter.com, “California drought is no dream.” Whereas The Washington Post article uses direct quotes from experts

In a recent study published in The American Journal of Public Health, researchers from California concluded the following: “Drought-impacted households might perceive physical and mental health effects and might experience financial or property impacts related to the drought” (Barreau et al. 783). Now the key question is as follows: Can this research be beneficial to all citizens of California? In other words, can local and state politicians assist with the creation and implementation of procedures and solutions that can be used to reduce and/or prevent the future physical, mental and financial impacts related to the drought?

California is a very lush area the issues running through all of California relate to water

California is known for their wide variety of fires because of high temperatures and lack of rain. Fire isn’t the only thing causing problems in California but also droughts. The center around all these problems is that water is being used by everyone. California has a huge population; water is needed for farms, different businesses, and households. We can’t just put a limit on water because that might cause more harm. The reason for droughts is there’s not enough rain in California.

Should the state control groundwater for farmers? California is in a drought right now and the state has made laws about how much groundwater a farmer could take for their land, but they are not happy about it. There should be laws against farmers being able to take as much water as they want because then we will run out of water for ourselves to shower, cook, clean, etc. Also dehydration and hunger will become a big problem.

In the big problem we are in, this drought effects the farmers, businesses and every person that lives in California. Regarding, nevertheless, there are methods of cutting down the water system to restore the water back that we lost. As the article of California’s Historic Drought says, “Most water is used outside of the home… and nearly sixty percent of a person’s household water footprint can go toward lawn and garden maintenance.” Finding small ways decreasing water usage can cut the percentage more than half. As the article Save Our Water tips solutions, “Water early in the morning or later in the evening when temperatures are cooler; wash cars/boats with a bucket, sponge, and hose with self-closing nozzle; check your sprinkler system

In California, there is a big drought. It is effecting a lot of people. When people are limited to the amount of water that they can use, this can change their living situations. You will end up seeing a lot of brown on their grass. I think it will be harder for people to survive with less water. People such as farmers, workers, and residents are changing their lifestyle, because of the drought.

While desalination, is indeed an effective long-term solution, it isn 't necessarily the most cost competitive method, because it can cost four to eight times more expensive than alternative solutions.

Have you thought what is being affected due to the drought in California, well one of the things that has been affected tremendously is the salmon population. Some of the ways that the salmon population has been effected are that due to water temperature a lot of salmon babies don’t get to hatch. Usually Salmon would lay eggs in cold waters, but their path to their usual breeding grounds has been blocked of by the Shasta dam and Keswick dam. Unfortunately because of the drought the usual run off that fills the lake had been cut, also because the computer used to regulate the water temperature had miscalculated. Due to both of these reasons the water at the spawning grounds rose above 62 degrees and their breeding waters should not go over 56

HANAK, E. (2015). The Drought Is a Vital Stress Test for the Future. Environmental Forum,

The Drought in California has lasted about five years. California is an American state known for it agricultural industry and large cities. It is on the West Coast near the Ocean as well. It is supposed to get both rain and snowfall throughout the year, but the drought has prevented as sufficient amount from occurring.