Drought in California Argument Essay
Have you thought about the importance of water recently? Water provides many things to people, from green lawns to nutritious food. An event that may have spurred these thoughts is the drought in California. They are struggling because there is simply not enough water in California to go around for all of its uses. Measures have been taken to conserve water, but cutbacks have been made on everything, even the giant industry of California agriculture. More water should be devoted to agricultural uses instead of residential uses in California for the following reasons:
First of all, California is a huge producer of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts in America. They produce over 90 percent of America’s walnuts, kiwis, plums, celery, and garlic (Cornett, par.6). This information shows just how broad and important California agriculture is. Also, California generates more agriculture related revenue than any other state, approximately $37.5 billion dollars each year (Cornett, par 6). Because of this information alone, shouldn’t California’s thriving
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According to state climatologist Michael Anderson, “California cannot count on potential El Nino conditions to halt or reverse drought conditions…there is a 50/50 chance of having a wetter winter… due to shifting climate patterns, we cannot even be that sure” (“Do Not Count on El Nino to End Drought”, par. 1). This shows that the chances are not good for the drought to end this winter. Also, temperatures have been at a record high and the snow pack has been at a record low during the current drought (“Do Not Count on El Nino to End Drought”, par.2). This information shows again that it is not likely for the drought to end soon. Since there is no definite, foreseeable ending to the drought, what little and valuable water California has needs to be put to a use that will be beneficial to everyone; California
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 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
How do we halt a seemingly endless drought? California has many varying climates from the chilly Sierra Mountains to the parched deserts of Death Valley, but today they all have one thing in common: they are in a drought. The California drought has been a creeping phenomenon that has taken a hold of the state for the past five years. There has been little rain, soaring temperatures, and dropping water levels. The lack of water lead to severe water cuts, the spread of wildfire, and thirsty crops. In order to end the drought, California must conserve water.
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
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
Imagine having to go outside every time one needs to use the restroom. There has been a drought going on in California for the past four years. There is a feud for water between farmers, citizens, and the drillers who get drain the water. The drought is a damaging issue that is affecting the lives of many. Therefore, California’s government should pass laws to manage how aquifers are to be properly used.
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.
The state of California remains lost as to what action to take with the drought. What is the proper solution to the current predicament residents of California are in? The answer to that question is an improved form of desalination and mandating the amount of water that farmer’s are available to and what crops they should be limited to. California coastline runs along eight hundred and forty miles of the Pacific Ocean. With this easy access to this water, desalination is the most plausible solution to the lack of water. It is a process in which salt is extracted from ocean water through a process called reverse osmosis. This process is incredibly expensive and power hungry but creating a
California has just come out of it’s 5th year of drought. In the last 5 years California has had record high temperatures and record low rain and snow. Even though they say the drought is over our groundwater levels are still down because of overpumping. Overpumping has been happening for 50 to 70 years. To me that is a really long time to overuse our water. Groundwater pumping is taking water from the ground. Most of the people using groundwater are farmers so their crops can grow in dry conditions (drought). Groundwater pumping is taking away from future water reserves which is the water we have to use during a drought. If we keep pumping groundwater out of the ground and don’t put it back in to replace it then it is a very bad use of a very valuable resource. California is lucky that state lawmakers are now beginning to try and regulate how groundwater is monitored and managed. The point of doing this is to try to find a better way to use our valuable resource.Fresh water is one of the basic needs of all living things.California needs to limit the amount of groundwater used by recycling wastewater and
“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.
This isn’t the first time California have been a drought, so why would this be the last? There is no confirmative explanation for droughts, yet, otherwise California would be prepared and would have done all they can to prevent it. Some believe this drought is caused by global warming, previous politician’s decisions, El Niño, and of course the decisions we made in our everyday life that affects our environment. Even with amount of rain received this year, I do not think California should celebrate yet. California has a history of extended droughts and there is an issue with the overflow of water in the dam.
California is entering its fourth year of a record-breaking drought. The combination of dryness and record warmnth have acted to produce the most severe drought conditions experienced in Califronia. The states drought affected Central Valley which is considered the richest food-producing region in the world, much of America's fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables are grown there. Due to the lack of water in California, there has been many argumentative decisions on water conservation such as fining people for overuse of water, bringing glaciers from the Arctic to California and building major water pipelines, but these ideas require much time and money which the governemnt isn't willing to risk.
In other words, the drought can really affect our economy as well as our social life. The Sierra Nevada snowpack, which is counted on to provide 30 percent of the state’s water supply as it melts through early summer, is at its second-lowest level on record. According to Hippo Reads, it will take about 11 trillion gallons of water (42 cubic kilometers) — around 1.5 times the maximum volume of the largest U.S. reservoir — to recover from California’s continuing drought, according to a new analysis of NASA satellite data.
California residents are beginning to feel the effects of the worst drought ever recorded in history. Wells are drying up, unexpected fires, and decreasing groundwater water levels are leaving Californians desperate in creating and putting in motion new water rationing projects for the whole state. The cause for the drought is just “Man made,” Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard executive stated . More and more lawns statewide are being ripped apart and replaced by fake grass to cut down water usage forcibly from the residents. Lakes that used to be overflowing with rich water are now nothing but a puddle of water waiting to dry up. This tragic drought will come to affect everyone, as California is one of the biggest nation’s producers of
Saturday night I anxiously sat in bed waiting for the ten o’clock news, thinking about what tomorrow will bring. Will the anticipated snow make a landing? Will Hofstra cancel Student Admittance day due to inclement weather and will I be relinquished of having to speak in front of potentially one hundred people? The weather forecast suggested snowfall and cancelations; massive flows of people screeching to a halt because the railways, roadways, and buses are delayed.