California Water Shortage Essay

As you are fully aware, California has been in a drought for over four years and the declining water level is a growing issue. A water analysis performed by the City of Fresno clearly reveals that in the past 80 years,

The State of Colorado has suffered from a water shortage in recent years; a difficult situation which is easily visible when viewing the quickly shortening length of the Colorado River. Lake Mead, for example, is roughly 130 feet lower than it once was, marked by the stained rock which towers above the current water level. “The river has become a perfect symbol of what happens when we ask too much of a limited resource: it disappears. In fact, the Colorado no longer regularly reaches the sea” (Zielinski, 2010). Legislation was implemented early on to address this issue, though the results were (perhaps not surprisingly) rather unanticipated, regarding

California has always had a warm climate, yet its supply of water has rarely been affected. In 2014 California’s water shortage issue truly began. Due to low amounts of snow in the winter in recent years, California has tried to equal out these shortages by drilling water from underground aquifers. Yet, underground aquifers recharge much slower than surface water sources. California has already made significant drawbacks to attempt to limit the amount of water they use, so these aquifers can recharge. But still resources continue going down and the Central Valley Aquifer’s water level is rapidly declining. Luckily, on April 7, 2017 the drought stage of emergency in California was ended. Yet the issue isn’t truly resolved. Glen MacDonald

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

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.

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

California has been in a terrible drought, if we keep doing this it’s just going to get worse. The State of California should have groundwater regulations. Hydrologists are showing charts of how the water keeps lowering over time. Having regulations on groundwater not only will save money, it will save time, and it will help the

Recently, California has cut out 25% of its cities water usage in attempt to conserve water, but is city-wide restrictions really the answer? There are many simpler and more efficient ways of conserving water rather than flat out restricting it. Picture yourself in a poor city in California with limited food and water supply, now you’re being told by the government that your city is required to cut out one fourth of its total water supply. We all use much more, clean, drinkable water for things other than basic needs. In fact, 5.7 billion gallons of water alone are flushed down the toilet each day by millions of Americans (Fishman.) Flushing too much is not the only way Americans are wasting water, leaks, over-irrigation and cooling of power plants. Just imagine if we were able to reuse all that water or use it in more efficient ways.

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.

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.

California can meet their water needs by using this precious resource much more efficiently than they are presently doing. California has been raising sustainable awareness by adding bulb-lit freeway signs every 10 miles along California Interstate 5 that say “Serious drought, help save water”, they have also printed placards that are posted in sparsely blooming almond and cherry groves, asparagus fields, and mile upon mile of empty dry cracked or tilled earth that warn people to use less water. As California continues to grow, this puts more pressure on their limited water supplies. California needs to figure out a way to manage their groundwater basins to secure the future of agriculture life.

California has been experiencing a drought over the past 3 years. The state has tried to keep water usage down in many ways. Encouraging people to take shorter showers and creating a law that enables people to water their grass a certain amount on certain days would be a couple examples. The California legislature is now proposing another law to help the severity of the drought: groundwater regulation. By regulating how much water a certain person should get, we are reducing the likelihood of the drought getting worse than it already is. The California legislature should definitely pass the law to regulate groundwater.

In 2014, Governor Brown issued an affirmation declaring a California drought state of emergency actively calling “all Californians to conserve water in every way possible (“Governor Brown Declares Drought State of Emergency”).” In addition, California state water officials said that “California rivers and reservoirs are below their record lows”. This problem not only pertains to the past but carries as an ongoing issue in California. California remains the top state in water consumption, taking up 11% of the United State’s water supply (Koroma). As a consequence, an estimated population of 24,838,128 people are inhabiting drought-stricken areas. Educating users on water consumption, taxing agricultural products which consume high levels of

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.