My California Drought

California was in a massive drought just this past year which became known as a state emergency. Many homeowners and ranchers pumps went dry because California was deprived of water. Many farmers had to drill there wells deeper to reach the water table, so they could keep their crops alive. However, the homeowners who didn’t have the money to drill another well, had to go to their local Fire station or water supply to get their own water in a tank. Just this past winter California was hit with a lot of rain and they didn’t seem ready for it, therefore California should have acted upon the issues prior to the wet winter such as more dams, water reservoirs, functioning dams, or simply have pumps to push water underground to store it.

This will help save water because seventy-five percent of our water is used by farmers who use flood irrigation which is very wasteful. The second way to be resourceful is xeriscaping which is dry landscaping. By Xeriscaping water is being saved there’s no need to water your lawn or plants. Residential Californian’s spend about fifty percent of our water on watering the outdoors; that’s more than the rainfall we receive to be wasted on plants and lawns. The third way to be resourceful is desalinization technology which is by taking water out of the ocean and treating the water so there aren’t any impurities or salt in the water so it can be digested. This method is very costly and could also cause harm to the environment. Dozens of desalinization plants have been proposed to be built in California, but it isn’t cheap. The fourth way to be resourceful is by water recycling which is being used in parts of California; but isn’t used for drinking. However, the groundwater replenishment system has purifiers which make recycled water safe to drink. This is one of the best ideas on how to be resourceful because we already have groundwater replenishment systems in California. Water recycling is cheaper than desalinization and doesn’t cause harm to our environment. Lastly in being resourceful is conservation the average Californian household uses two-hundred gallons of water a day. Some good ways to conserve are: taking shorter showers, turning off water when not in

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.

California’s continuous drought not only affects California, but essentially impacts the entire food system. Could you imagine an entire state unable to contribute to the growing demands of a thriving economy? As California enters its fifth year of drought the consequences of an ever depleting natural resource, water, continues to negatively impact landscape plants, agricultural production, wildlife, and the economy. The lack of water in California has the potential to have a devastating effect on an ever thriving economy.

Over the years, California's drought has progressively gotten worse. Although some years we experience some rain, it is not enough to fulfill the need for water throughout the state. So where exactly is all the water going? Well, all of California’s water is split into three different sections: Environmental, Agricultural, and Urban.

California is in a drought and has been for the last three years. Southern California especially is affected by the drought that is now become a regular occurrence with no end in sight. With decreased rainfall and a steadily growing population, Southern California residents now have to make an effort to conserve the renewable resource that is water. Everyone uses water and humans, like all mammals, requires water for survival. With increased demand and decreased supply, water companies now charge more for water than ever before. Water companies can also use this as a way to educate the customers who habitually overuse water with the goal of persuading them to conserve the limited resources available. Recycled water is a more sustainable alternative, however even after treating and purifying that water, it would be still unsafe to drink, and even if it were, no one in their right mind would want to pay to drink what is a essentially sewer water.

California's future will be heavily impacted by this drought if things don’t change. Everything from its economy, to the people, to the physical land itself, is being threatened. According to American Farmland Trust, one eighth of the nation’s agricultural production comes from California: a third of the nation’s vegetables, and almost two thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts. Agriculture is an enormous industry and is occasionally the only industry in certain parts of the state that is going through a severe drought. It’s impossible to grow crops without water, and it’s impossible to make money from crops that never grew, so in many areas the economy would collapse without sufficient water. American Farmland Trust

In many cases water is a needed substance to live, but in some cases it is not. The writer of, The Wrong Way to Think about California Water, states that some of us think that individually we are causing a drought but in reality we are not. We think we cause the drought by taking a long shower, leaving the sink running, and watering our plants excessively. The writer shows how the golf course and not having turf causes problems, and he is right. A golf course uses excess water, and even if they do recycle, they don't need it all. Also, there is no shame of having turf, it is not right for some people to manage their water supply while farmers get to use it as they want.

California is going on a four-year drought, having many devastating implications that are being felt by everyone in the state. The population hit the hardest has been the farmers of California. California, being economically driven by its agricultural production, is losing hundreds of thousands of jobs every year due to the lack of water. Farmers’ use 80% of water the state produces, directly influencing their production (Mieszkowski, 2014). The country heavily relies on California for much of its produce such as tomatoes, nuts, avocados, strawberries, broccoli, grapes and various others (Cooley et al. 2015). In 2014, harvested acreage was 6.9 million acres, the lowest it has been for the past 15 years. Farmers are now being forced to use significantly less land then before, but also ditch old irrigation techniques and implement new techniques to better conserve water; maximizing production as much as possible in order to combat the drought.

There is no reason to wait until the day comes that there is not any water coming out of the showers or sinks in people’s homes. It is time to not only begin recognizing how severe California’s drought is, but trying to stop it by conserving more water. There is many reasons that California is in a water drought, but some of the main causes include not getting enough rainfall, over usage of water in homes, and over usage of water outside of homes. People should have a limit on the amount of water they can use within a day and be able to see how much they have used already. If people are able to physically see how much water they wasted then they might stop using so much. In order to conserve more water and prevent California’s drought to worsen

California has had along history of dealing with its most vital resource water. It is not uncommon for a state/country to experience a drought that is the fluidity of the earth. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to say when a drought will break for California it is vital that the state make breakthroughs in science and technology that can help us sustain a proper water supply that gives water to the masses. Exploring a section of California specifically in Santa Barbara, I will be looking at the history of water and finding innovative solutions for more sustainable practices within the county itself. Looking at past practices of water usage and the social, political, and current ideas of how drought has affected this area and the solutions for the enduring future.

This desolate outlook on Southern California’s future is a result of excessive water usage and rapidly diminishing water supplies.

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.

California drought. This current drought began in 2011 (Dallman). Citizens of southern California are not mandated to conserve water. The governor did not find it necessary to call a state of emergency until the third dry year. Thus, the southern California have to voluntarily conserve water (Dallman). The drought is still ongoing. It is getting more severe as it goes on. It is the worst drought in 120 years (Dallman). The drought is caused by lack of restrictions, almonds, and desalinations.

Since California is in a drought, it is a serious situation. A drought is where there is hardly any water. The water that is gone has dried up and evaporated or has gone deep into the ground. This is so serious that people are putting fake grass in their yard.