California Drought Literature Review

On March 27, 2014, Wade Graham of the San Francisco Chronicle reported “The Water Revolution California needs.” California is having a severe drought. Wade Graham tells his readers that California is in a serious water crisis. The state of California needs to make strict changes to how water is being distributed amongst farmers and residents. Before all of California’s ecological system is destroyed. Wade Graham believes that water should be priced higher; that way people aren’t wasting water. Water is a limited resource that should never be wasted, and is probably California’s most valuable resource. Unfortunately, many people waste water; instead of conserve water especially when we live in the state of California where we are subject to

Southern California perhaps has seen the most conflict over water than the rest of the United States. The area surrounding Los Angeles and San Diego has virtually no fresh water source naturally and requires irrigation from the north. These two cities have continually conflicted over water allocations from the Colorado

Californians are being heavily fined for using a certain amount of water a month, which impacts the daily lives of everyone. Water is a natural resource that is crucial to everyone’s survival. Whether if it’s being used for cooking, showering, gardening, washing your car or just simply drinking purposes; water is a necessity for everyone. Though the bill has not yet been passed by congress and officially has not become a law, the issue still remains on the table. The drought in California has taken a massive toll on agriculture, the environment and infrastructure. The drought is on its route to damage California’s climate change. In the past three consecutive years the average rain fall has drastically decreased, and the winter temperatures have increased. Since majority of California’s water comes from the Western Rocky Mountains, the water supply there is dropping resulting in more strict laws and regulations on how much water can be consumed by the average

In the his brief but effectual article “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”, the author Michael Hiltzik presents to the reader “a guide to the wrong ways to think about California water, and the glimmer of a better way”(Hiltzik). In the short piece, Hiltzik argues that the current debate on how California should be spending its meager allowance of water during the current drought is being thoroughly misguided. Hiltzik writes that people should stop criticizing businesses that consume “large” amounts of water, rather, the water already being used should be utilized more efficiently and effectively. “The only lasting solutions include creating a better-functioning water market with transparent pricing and transfers, so that water

What if you had no water to bathe, wash dishes, or even drink? This is the future we face here in California if the state doesn’t act to conserve our water and ensure that it is wasted as little as possible. California is in its 3rd year of a debilitating drought, and many citizens, especially farmers are dangerously tapping more into an nonrenewable resource: groundwater. In light of the severity of current and future problems that have or will result from the depletion of the fast-emptying subterranean reserves of water, California’s Legislature has introduced a new bill designed to limit and control the use of groundwater, a decision that all other western states have already made. I believe that this new bill is necessary to prevent California

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.

Over the years, conflict has emerged over whether the water that is distributed to the state of California should be equally provided to every part of the state, regardless of where the water has come from. People have argued that California has small water systems that they polluted by industrial uses, which makes them less efficient. People have also claimed that the state’s water systems are located in low income communities which makes it hard to gather funds for improvement. However, the distribution of water to all parts of California has many positive aspects to it. Many regions of the state have water restrictions and limited uses of water, which makes makes it more difficult for these regions. People have argued that the provision

Ever since the early nineteenth century until today, the California water crisis has been an issue that is yet to be resolved. As one of the largest states with a population of over thirty million (Class Discussion); water consumption is in high demand. "From the very beginning, California was a state with tremendous agricultural potential"(Chan, S., and Olin, S. Pg 136). A similarity from both the California of the early 1800 's and today is that water is an expensive and important resource being sourced primarily from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The difference between then and now is that previously we had an abundant water supply but we did not know how to utilize it effectively to meet demand. Contrast that situation to today, and the demand for water remains, however the supply is no longer available to meet the needs of Californians. In this paper, we will discuss the legislative decision 's to bring California’s water supply to its people, the fight for conservation, and discuss the drought as it is today.

Over thousands of years water has been a very valuable element in our everyday lives. Now we are being faced with a shortage of water affecting not only us, but future generations as well. The drought has become an extreme issue that has affected the United States. For example, in Texas the dry spell has had an impact in families, politics and law, religion, health care, and mass media.

Imagine walking into your house after being outside on a scorching summer’s day. Beads of sweat drip down your face, and you are completely parched. You turn on your faucet for a glass of water, but nothing comes out. This may sound like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie scene, but it can soon become a reality for those living on the west coast. Decades of unsustainable water practices have led to record low levels of water resources across the western states of the United States. Michelle Nijhuis of National Geographic reports that the western states of California, Nevada, and Arizona face a great deal of issues, due to the fact that their past system of water irrigation has become unsustainable. The first main factor behind this

The farmers have faced challenges with the limited amount of water to supplement the variety of crops throughout many years, but on January 17, 2014 the Governor Jerry Brown according to an article from USGS named, “California Drought” brought to attention the issue of the drought. The limited resource of water devastated the farmers because the crops were in danger of becoming dry and useless. Since the awareness of the limited water supply the farmers had to find a way to manage the crops water usage. According to the article “How Farmers Conserve Water in a Drought”, by Elizabeth Held

For some, California represents a lifestyle enriched with post card views, glimmering shorelines, cutting edge technology, and fruitful farmlands. People envision the state as a symbol for a better life, however, it has been hit with a drought that has deteriorated its natural beauty and land to the point where it has become unrecognizable, primarily the Central Valley. California’s Central Valley has been most notable for its agricultural production and for essentially being the world’s greatest source for food. In the largest and most prolific economy in the United States, agriculture generates around $100 billion in exports annually (O’Connell), but in the past few years, the drought has forced this sector of economy and the citizens of

Over the past 4 years the water crisis has been rearing its mean head not only across the globe, but here in our home country, in the state of California. The citizens in California have moved having a normal lawn of grass into the luxury category. Not only have lakes and rivers dried up, but reservoirs that provide water for the entire state have dropped to hazardous levels. In Calaveras County, home of the state’s fourth largest reservoir, levels of water have dropped to only 20% capacity.

For at least the past four years, California has been in a drought. Since it has been so long of a drought, officials are finally starting to encourage people to diminish their usage of water. When the encouragements are not working, they use force and statewide restrictions are put into place. In an article titled ¨The Wrong Way to Think about California Water¨ by Michael Hiltzik, the author rants on Californians for the amount of water that they use daily, yearly, and constantly. However, the argument only supports one side.

Here we are in 2015 and California is still in desperate need for water. California is currently in a drought that started in 2012. That is 3 years straight of limited to no perpetration. However, this is not uncommon for California. This region has gone quite custom to operating off of minimum rainfall.