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 …show more content…
California needs to have a law to limit and supervise the water being taken out of the aquifer because the aquifer is running out and it is affecting California. For Example we have been pumping water from the aquifer that is 20,000 years old. People in California rely on the water because it is our main freshwater source especially when we are in a drought. The drought has been so bad that the ground in San Joaquin Valley has dropped 10-20 times faster since the last drought a decade ago. Since California was not measuring how much water was being pumped or that is left and since the aquifer is a main freshwater source for California how will we know when to stop using the water, or when the aquifer will run out, scientist’s have guessed that we have 65% of water remaining
My opinion is that California should not regulate groundwater because of farmers and financially. A Farmer would need more water for their crops, animals , accordingly themselves. That is a large amount of water , I do not think that is fair because what would happen if the farmers ran out of water ;they would have to use other residents water. Farmers would have to buy less pickups,employing less people, moreover buying less tractors.In source 1 it says that “the Farmers feel very disconnected with the
One of the main consumers of water are farmers, they account for 80 percent of water usage in California (Skelton). The problem with cutting water to farmers is money; the amount of money that California farmers generate is around 46.4 billion (Fox). Cutting water to farmers will cause unemployment to increase and a decrease in the amount of taxable income. Along with the loss of money and jobs an increase in the price for produce will be expected. Many of the smaller farmers will not be able to make ends meet with the increase price of water. Sure many of the mega farms will get by without a huge
What do you think would happen if your town ran out of water? In the town of East Porterville they have not had water in 5 months. Life is really bad for them. They can not do basic stuff that involves using water. I do think that California should control phreatic water.
Envision yourself, about to complete a straightforward, everyday thing such as washing the dishes, suddenly to your surprise there is no water coming out of the faucet. Well for the civilians of East Porterville this is their reality. California has always had very lenient and ineffective groundwater regulations. Today, this has become a major issue, especially with California's severe drought. The regulation of the aquifer is a necessity because cleanliness is a basic human right and by not regulating the groundwater and leaving civilians with no working water, that right is taken away. The right to bathe, wash your hands, and have a working toilet is simply no more. Furthermore there are scientific statements, proving that excessively pumping groundwater will lower the water levels, which will likely lead to the land level sinking as well.
Undoubtedly, Groundwater plays a significant role in California water supply. During a normal year, 30% of the state 's water supply comes from groundwater. In times of extreme drought, groundwater consumption can rise to 60% or more. Even though groundwater is more evenly distributed, over half of the groundwater is unable to be extracted due to the high pumping cost. The largest groundwater reservoirs are found in the Central Valley, with the majority of the supply existing as runoff that seeps into the aquifer.
At some point of our lives we have been asked or have heard the question, what can we not live without?. Many of us will not hesitate to mention family, friends, food, water, and other living essential we find futile to our survival. If we place these living essentials in order of importance some of us may place family over water. If you then think about it, we can live without our family, but we cannot live without water. Water gives us life its in our fruits, foods, and drinks. Without water we would not be alive and healthy for the most part. The importance of water is substantial and California is currently experiencing one of its worst droughts in history. The planet itself is also undergoing global warming, which only contributes to a more severe drought occurring in California. Droughts in California’s history did not have the contributing factor of Global warming diminishing their severity. California’s drought and Global warming share a common link in the factor that would contribute to the severity of the drought we are currently experiencing in California and
Water is a precious resource. It is the lifeblood of every living thing on Earth. California is in the midst of a water crisis. Combined with a three (plus) year drought and many people moving into the state there is not enough water to support the crops the farmers need to grow. There is also a tiny little fish that is causing a mess in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Delta water pumps were turned off to prevent the extinction of the tiny little fish. Some farmers have to let their fields sit idle for the fall and spring planting season. This is causing a lot of problems in California. The pumps need to be turned back on. The needs of the people should come before that of a fish.
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.
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
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
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.
Overall, California should pass laws to manage the misuse of aquifers to be able to get the drought situation under control. This four year drought should have created some laws by the California government after this long. The citizens are suffering and need water, and the only way they’re going to get it is by California creating
In 2014, “groundwater makes up 60 percent of California’s water use” (Governor Brown Changes, 2014).
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 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.