Drought In California Vs. Almond

Thesis: It is very important to know that California’s drought leaves many bad effects on our community and environment by causing the plants, animals, electricity, and us humans.

California is a geographically dry area and water shortage has been a serious issue affecting the state since 2012. California has the highest water consumption compared to all the other states and this partly due to the reason that roughly eighty-percent of the state’s water is used towards agriculture; California being the largest agricultural export distributor in the country (Green). Since of 2012, California has been on a severe four-year drought and has had immediate plans and regulations in order to reduce the impact it has. According to California Water Science Center, “2014 was the third driest year on record” and following that, “2015 [was] the warmest year on record.” The recent record breaking climate has contributed to the drought of California and as a result has had detrimental impacts to the environment. Severe climate during a shortage of water can lead to drastic problems because it can lead to an increase of evapotranspiration and increase of precipitation falling as rain rather than snow. Having precipitation falling more often as rain rather than snow during warm weather can lead to early snowmelt which can unbalance the water supply demands (Causes of Drought). During a drought, occasionally humans are impacted, but more importantly the environment experiences the impacts harshly. Wildlife habitat lost, inadequate food and water

As far back as 1976 there have been reports that California has been experiencing signs of a drought. Apparently many people did not take notice to this at all. Many of these people were and are farmers who grow water heavy crops such as almonds. Which take “approximately 1.1 gallons of water for one almond. Which can be multiplied by a bag of almonds multiplied by 6000 almond farmers in California’s central valley at an estimated 600 million pounds of almonds per year”. That is an

“Economists at the University of California, Davis said that agriculture, once a $44 billion annual business in California, will suffer a financial hit of $2.2 billion due to revenue losses and higher water costs” (Associated Press, 2014). Many farmers are going out of business because the production costs have increased with rising inflation, while revenue has decreased. Others have reduced their farmland plantations which decreases the crop production. Some of the affected crops include oranges, pistachios and rice. One example of how this affects the nation is the California almonds. “California [is] the source of eighty percent of the world’s almonds” (Bloomberg, 2014). This year farmers had to come up with new tactics to rescue the nut from drought “by diverting the water used for vegetables and drilling more water wells to keep the trees hydrated” (Bloomberg, 2014). Farmers are not the only group of workers affected by the drought.

California Almonds are crunchy, delicious, and healthy and currently are becoming one of the world’s favorite snacks. Almonds are currently consumed about 1000% more than they did a decade ago by people from around the world and became the most exported crop in the nation’s top agriculture state (While California FightsDrought, Almonds Using More Water Than Residents, 3). In addition, almonds are tremendously profitable, generating approximately $11 billion to the state’s economy in 2014 alone (Philpott, T., & Lurie J., 3). However, the huge success of almonds results a water crisis in California. The issue of drought in California has continued to worsen since 2011 and one of

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.

The drought has a strong impact on the Californian economy as well, a whopping 2.74 billion dollars down that drain and twenty thousand jobs lost. Agriculture the major business hit by the drought. Agriculture uses eighty percent of California’s water, although it has a high water usage California agriculture is very important for the national economy (Ross). Half a million acers of farmland has been dried up due to the drought which means less money in agriculture. The almond industry uses ten percent of California’s water, taking one gallon of water to grow just one almond (Holthaus). Many people think that almonds are wasting water since it takes so much resources to cultivate. On the other hand California produces more than eighty percent

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

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

California is a place where everyone wants to travel to! Take a vacation to experience their perfect sunny weather, view their great green grass scenery, and to see the acre of their wine grapes. All of that slowly faded away, sadly for the last couple of years, California was in a drought, and have struggled to find a solution; until this year, California finally received enough rain and overflowed their dam. Due to California’s recent drought, it has affected their water resource. Not only did it affected the city, but made it especially difficult in the agriculture field. This includes all the fruits, vegetables, wine, animal, etc.

California is experiencing its worst drought in history. Throughout the state you can see lakes, rivers and streams drying up and leaving farmers and communities without water. Although it seems that science and global weather patterns caused this severe drought, however irresponsible usage of water paired with state laws on water rights and population growth have all played a role in prolonging this drought that is going into its eighth year. California’s central valley is the world leader in Agriculture, however the valley is also the perfect area for a drought to occur due to climate change. California is in a state of emergency, with the help of reduced water usage along with the state and federal government need to aid in lessening

There are several reasons that contribute to California’s drought. Bottled water is a main issue for the nation. We consume “more than 10 billion gallons of bottled water per year,’’ according to The Wrong Way to Think about California Water. People should choose tap water over bottled water. Surprisingly, tap water is regulated better than bottled water is. Another topic that people sometimes bring up to the subject of California’s drought is, agriculture. In The Wrong Way to Think about California Water it says, “Perhaps the best-known statistic about the state’s nut crop is that it takes one gallon of water to grow a single almond.” Although almond trees use a large amount of water, they aren't the reason why we are in a drought. Many

The current four year drought in California could threaten an increase in supply costs due to crop shortage and increased costs to farmers for crop production. One solution to this issue may be to raise the crop to supply the required ingredients.

To begin with, CA has the 6th largest economy in the world and the largest economy in the US. Due to the drought, the california economy has gone down which in turn also affects the United States economy as well. According to CNN, this constant drought will affect everyone as California is an agricultural state and reputed as breadbasket to the whole world. It includes a large portion of agricultural output which is exported. As the agricultural industry needs reliable water supply from irrigation and rain, constant drought in the state is bound to affect the world. In addition, according to the USDA, they predict that there will be a 6% increase in fruit price and a 3% rise in vegetable prices due to the drought. Clearly, this drought is affecting us more than ever and it will continue to get worst. Therefore, we should fund this resolution.