Consequences of a Drought
There are several environmental issues going on today. One of the most known problems in the state of California is the drought. The state gets most of its rainfall from January to March, but in the past several years it has received little to no rain. Although it is normal to have little precipitation some years, the constant dry climate is no longer normal. The rainfall that we do receive is not enough to save the state. We are now dealing with the consequences of the severe drought. It has become an important issue not only locally, but also nationally.
California agriculture has been affected significantly. According to an article in the Reveal News “Why the California drought affects everyone”, the state may
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Reservoirs are also drying up. The Sierra Nevada snowpack has significantly melted. Why is the snowpack important you may ask? Well, The Sierra Nevada is important because it contributes to California’s water supply. With the snow melting at a fast rate, and with no rain and snow in the mountain area, there is no fresh water to store. That is where we get most of the fresh water. In the essay “Climate of Denial”, Al Gore writes about heat and drought happening around the world. It is a real environmental issue happening now. He states, “[b]ut in the ‘real world’ the records droughts, fires, floods, and mudslides continue to increase in severity and frequently.” (105) He goes on by saying that these types of events are “of man-made global warming.” (105) I agree with Gore because we are depleting our resources and drying up the soil. Our way of living is contributing to pollution in the atmosphere that traps heat that causes dry weather. California is known for being a multicultural state. Its population has grown greatly over the past hundreds of years. That same population increase has lead to “longer-lasting droughts.” (Gore …show more content…
El Nino is a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean that is said to bring a wet winter to California. I do hope that it brings some relief to the state’s drought. If the dry weather continues for a longer period of time, it will be difficult for the state to continue sustaining the large population that habitats the state. The wildlife is already being affected, moving to where they can find water. We all rely on the water to survive. I cannot even imagine California turning into a desert like one of those middle-eastern countries that once where green. The state in which I reside has many residents who need to be educated further more about the drought and become more conscious about water usage. Together we can accomplish many things, but the first step is becoming aware that we are part of the problem. If we want change to happen, we have to start by seeing what we are doing in our own home that contributes to the water shortage in the
Along with global warming, factors such as population growth and increased demands, inefficient use of water resources, overuse of groundwater, mismanagement of water supply systems, misguided policies, and so on contributed to the occurrence of one of the worst droughts that California is experiencing in 2014-2015, which has a negative impact not only on environment, but also on social and economic sectors of California.
I.) Water and Drought in California: Facts and data show that the weather we are experiencing here in California is that there is a difference between La Niña that brings the ocean temperature down and making them cooler and El Niño brings much warmer ocean temperatures. Currently california is experiencing a weakened La Niña. With a 55% chance of this weather continuing for the next 3 months. La Niña affect patterns of rainfall, atmospheric pressure, and global atmospheric circulation. Even though California is in a severe drought, with coordination, modernization, and compromise, California should be able to provide enough water for a growing population and growing economy.
The drought is not a result of Global warming because the California drought is caused by a lack of Pacific subtropical storms and the Nina ocean current pattern. However, Global warming does make California’s drought more severe in effect due to the rise of temperature which only contributes to hotter days resulting in more inland water evaporating into the atmosphere. As global warming persist and increases California’s current or future droughts will only become more severe. The implications Globe warming causes in just one state’s drought should be a realization of what global warming can cause in areas of drought at a larger
California state and some other west regions face the problem of severe drought and the researchers show several reasons to explain this phenomena. According to research in weather data for the past century, in terms of overall precipitation and spring snowpack, the past three years are not record-breakers and paleoclimate studies show that the current drought is not exceptional given the natural variations in precipitation of the past seven centuries. It cannot thoroughly attribute drought to global warming. California may be faced a future of “perfect drought” because of following reasons. Rising heat increases the evaporation, continuing depletion of ground water, and growing water shortages on the Colorado River [1]. It is predictable
The California Drought is one of the most catastrophic weather and climate related events in recent history. It has singlehandedly altered the geographic landscape of the state and brought down entire industries to a grinding halt. Not since global warming became a prominent fixture in the national spotlight has a climate issue so deeply challenged Californians to reconsider their lifestyles according to their climate conditions. This essay will examine the origins of climate change and the California Drought, how the two are related, the current state of California as a result of the drought, and the future outlook of California.
Most of us consider drought as a period of dry and hot weather with too little or no rain, and while any or all of these conditions might be existent during drought, the definition of drought is more complex and subtle. According to the United States Geological Survey, California Water Science Center (as cited in Congressional Digest, 2015, p. 2):
After more than five years of drought in California, we are just now beginning to see an above-average precipitation,and this is leaving many to ask, "is the drought over?" This last drought was one of the worsts droughts California has experienced in history and it left many panicked and trying to come up with solutions. “Governor Jerry Brown even made one of the first cutback to farmers ' water rights since 1977, and ordered cities and towns to cut water use by as much as 36 percent ” (Zamora,et al..) Overall California has 39 million residents and on top of that California also grows an unbelievable amount of
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.
Due to the lack of rain in the past few years, and particularly in the last few months, California faces severe drought. This is the worst drought in more than one hundred years. The impact of California drought affects community, agriculture, organic ranchers, and dairy farmers. Because of these facts, the United States must rethink the way it uses water. Californians alone are asked to reduce their water usage by twenty percent to prevent water waste.
Water is the most important resource, controlling all aspects of life. The effect on climate change is changing California’s water quality and quantity. This creates
Californians have been struggling with trying to conserve our water for over three years. Twenty-Thirteen was our driest year in many populated areas in California, and it doesn't seem to be changing any time soon, unless we all act now. In twenty-thirteen, Los Angeles and Sacramento, went down on record as the driest two cities in California. A drought is when area of land scarcely drop rain. Droughts are caused from climate changes and lack of precipitation, resulting in a shortage of water. Water is vital for all living things and is the essential component of all life. This ongoing drought has drastically affected the state of California. The long-term change in climate is truly affecting California. Our water reservations are lower than
The state of California is getting worse instead of better. “Just over 95 percent of the state now faces severe drought conditions and nearly 60 percent is in exceptional drought the highest of five rankings by the US drought monitor”(source 2).
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
California has been in a drought for about 4 years now and it has been considered the most severe drought in the last 15 years. The California drought has been causing multiple ongoing problems for the last few years. The state of California has tried to take actions toward ending the drought, but the efforts put forth are clearly not enough to end this drought. The main focus in ending the drought has been water conservation, but many California resident are taking the seriousness of the drought too lightly. The drought has already caused several problems, for example water shortages, dying crops, and wildfires all across the state. If serious actions towards ending the drought are not taken soon, California will continue to surface or may get worse. There are a few ideas underway to try and end the drought in California such as, desalination, wastewater recycling, ground water digging, and the main focus water conservation. All of the solutions to ending the drought will cost a good amount of money, so the fact of the matter is which idea would be most efficient and less costly.