California Water Shortage

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

Water resources in the state of California have deteriorated drastically as a result of the current drought event in the west coast of the United States. This has resulted in insufficient supplies of water to residents of southern California, as well as the devastation of wildlife and aquatic ecosystems that are characteristic of this area. This policy analysis will provide the context of the issue, as well as possible solutions, followed by a proposed policy plan to reach the policy goal of equitable and reliable water allocation in the state of California, drought resilience, as well as restoration of the destroyed ecosystems.

In accordance with Adam Nagourney and Jack Healy’s New York Times article, “ Drought Frames Economic Divide of Californians,” it is believed that the residents of California are economically divided which determines the amount of water they consume. In the two cities of comparison, Cowan Heights and Compton, consumption of water has a lot to do with the residents financial background. The daily water consumption rate for the residents of Cowan Heights, whose household median income is $122,662, was 572.4 gallons per person. The daily water consumption rate for the residents of Compton, whose household median income is

What if you were not able to shower for five months, what if you could not wash your

California is currently battling a massive water shortage that is crippling the state. The lack of a rainy season for the last four years is really putting a strain on the local farmers, citizens, and communities. California typically has a Mediterranean type climate where it has a concentrated rainy season for six months and then plunges into high temperatures of dry heat. This has not been the typical pattern the last few years. California has received very little rain and is now searching for ways to conserve and produce water. Scientists believe that there is “blocking ridge” that is caused by high atmospheric pressure that causes disruption of typical wind patterns that blow storms to the California coast. The ridge extends from the subtropical Pacific between California and Hawaii to the coast of Arctic Ocean north of Alaska. California is now looking for ways to conserve water by focusing on water conservation and relandscaping public areas with drought resistant and native plants.

Organic ranchers and dairy farmers in California also feel the effects of the drought. They rely on green pasture to feed their animals a healthy diet. Due to the lack of rain, the pasture are drying up and the ranchers have to purchase supplemental organic hay from other states. In an attempt to fund the purchasing of this out of state hay, the organic farmers are selling herds to businesses for hamburger meat and the small

It was a blistering summer day and it was so hot you could fry eggs on the sidewalk. I remember the day as clearly as if it happenned yesterday. The water ninjas were prowling the streets. Mocking undercover espionage and often anonymous, they secretly watch you, snapping away photos of all your wastefulness with their iPhones. Then uploading the evidence for the world to see – and the newly empowered local Glendale water agency – to blatantly see. Within five minutes of me starting to wash my car, I look behind me and there were the water district people. They did the whole calling me “mam” cliche and asking whether I knew the laws. In the end, they wrote me up a citation for using water on a non watering day. This is just an example of an incident that can occur when excess watering occurs. Luckily for me I managed to get out of the citation for being a first time offender and promising not to do it again. Many of the conventional beliefs have laid blame on the homeowners hooked on having the shiny clean cars, crisp green lawns, and sparkling swimming pools.  However, the conventional beliefs don’t always tell the whole story. The truth is California communities all across the state have tremendously reduced their average water consumption. There have been both successes and failures in the fronts of California’s drought and the conservation efforts, but as we go forward there is a definite need in better planning.

Climate change is a growing issue. I have found that this is an issue that can no longer be ignore. One area that is effected even more so than others is California. Specifically California’s water resources are becoming depleted due to climate change. This is not only an issue of the future but of the present. If this trend continues on its predicted path not only will California be effected but our whole nation. It should be a concerning issue to everyone and is not to be taken lightly.

Currently California is facing a water shortage. The issue has been addressed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in February. He called for all state agencies to find the way to help in the statewide water shortage. This is California’s third consecutive year of drought and last spring and summer was the worst of the season because it had the lowest amount of water recorded and California’s reservoirs were at their lowest point as well which did not help in the water shortage. Many agencies have been acquired to find possible solutions to the water shortage, the Department of Water Resources has been directed to find solutions to the problem as well as asking people to conserve water.

For centuries, various civilizations have developed several methods to redirect water from its source to a specified locations. Early Egyptians used a shaduf to lift buckets of water from rivers and as the need to divert water further away from groundwater sources, the more sophisticated the methods became. The Romans built extensive quanats to deliver a fresh water supply while providing a sewage system. Ounce urbanization ensued, the demand for water would require this resource to travel hundreds of miles to reach its destination. Aqueducts, canals, ditches, and dams are all used today to transport water from areas who have an abundance of potable water to areas that lack drinkable water. This was exemplified in the short film “Water on the Edge”. The film addresses the many problems California faces after decades of using various methods for water diversion. Some of the problems include outdated watering systems, maintaining the health of natural systems, and providing water throughout the state while in a drought.

In the article “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water” by Michael Hiltzik argues that water is complicated in California and how it has been used lately over the years. In the articles section Urban use: the shame of turf, says that the appliances have been made with a low use of water. I agree with Hiltzik that that we should consider/use low-flow toilets, water-stingy washing machines and other appliances that can help us conserve water. In the article “ The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”, section Urban use: The shame of turf, it states that “...even though daily urban consumption fell to 178 gallons per capita in 2010 from 232 in 1995, according to the Public Policy Institute of California- thanks largely to low-flow

The drought in California isn’t even close to seeing an end, in the article Solutions to California Water Crisis From Half a World Away by Stephen Stock, Michael Bott, Jeremy Carroll and Felipe Escamilla, it reports that California needs to brace itself for multiple decades more of this monumental drought and that it going to take trillions of gallons of water to catch up to the state current deficit. They summarized the severity of this drought by saying that it could rain every day in San Francisco and Oakland California for the next decade and a half and the state still wouldn’t have even made a divot in the terms of catching up. When there’s a shortage in the amount of water available, a state or country relies on the hidden water supplies underground in aquifers and ground water which they then drill into to

For those causes and effects, the California officials have come up several solutions for solving this problem. The first solution is education. The residents in California do not have enough concept of saving water, so they use a lot of water to water their lawns and plants, wash their clothes daily although they have just worn a t-shirt with jean for two hours, and keep water flowing when they are brushing their teeth. Through education, people will notice the problem of water shortage in their home country, and understand the correct way to save water. The second solution is adding the cost of using an amount of water, and we will set a water usage average line for the residents. It means that you will be cost extra money when the amount

In the article, “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”, by Michael Hiltzik, Hiltzik writes about some people’s perspectives of the water usage in California. I disagree with some of them, but I also agree to some. I relate to one of the perspectives and I will try to stop doing what is wasting water.

Water is essential to sustain life. It is becoming an ever more valuable resource every year as it becomes scarcer. The general problem is that California is in the midst of a severe drought. The specific problem is that the typical urban consumer has little knowledge of how to reduce their every day consumption of water. Urban usage accounts for approximately 5.7 million acre-feet per year, which equates to approximately 10% of California’s annual water supply in a year with normal precipitation (Burt, 2014). In this previous water year (October 1, 2013 - September 30, 2014) California experienced its driest year in 119 years (Ca.Gov/Water Conditions). Serious action needs to be taken immediately to reduce consumptive usage, especially in the case of urban consumption of water. Shakespeare famously said “I to the world am like a drop of water that in the ocean seeks another drop”. While each individual may believe their actions to be insignificant, in the bigger picture, California needs every drop it can get.