Public Policies: Facts About California's Water Supply In California

In the his brief but effectual article “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”, the author Michael Hiltzik presents to the reader “a guide to the wrong ways to think about California water, and the glimmer of a better way”(Hiltzik). In the short piece, Hiltzik argues that the current debate on how California should be spending its meager allowance of water during the current drought is being thoroughly misguided. Hiltzik writes that people should stop criticizing businesses that consume “large” amounts of water, rather, the water already being used should be utilized more efficiently and effectively. “The only lasting solutions include creating a better-functioning water market with transparent pricing and transfers, so that water

This assignment requires that I develop and thoroughly analyze a public policy in order to advocate for one that improves the health of the public and/or the nursing profession globally (local, state, national or international). To do this, I must reflect on several aspects of being a policy maker within the nursing profession. I was instructed to consider the following:

Slowly overtime, to prevent any more bizarre events in the future, California shouldn’t take drought lightly. As of the recent drought, Government Brown taken action, have produced a restriction by 25% of decrease of water usage back in 2015, luckily in 9 months California was able to save 1.5 million acres-feet of water(Sanders). But farmers aren’t the only people with large lands, this also applies graveyards, golf courses, and more. Agriculture plays a big part of needing the water and if they can help cut down the portion of water used, so should the people in the city. So far, California haven’t prevented the drought from happening, but definitely not repeating the same mistakes from previous.

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.

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

Yet, humans have limited control on natural events, so this only reinforces the importance of managing water wisely. Recently California’s government has begun to focus more on sustaining and restoring the water supply. Dale Kasler (2016) articulates in his article some of the steps they have decided to make to solve this serious issue. The government has made the following investments: “$415 million for watershed restoration and other environmental aid for Lake Tahoe; up to $335 million for two proposed reservoirs in California, including the Sites reservoir north of Sacramento; $880 million for flood-control projects on the American and Sacramento rivers in Sacramento; and $780 million for flood-control projects in West Sacramento” (para. 10). This could be the first step to restoring the water to California. But these

Over the years, conflict has emerged over whether the water that is distributed to the state of California should be equally provided to every part of the state, regardless of where the water has come from. People have argued that California has small water systems that they polluted by industrial uses, which makes them less efficient. People have also claimed that the state’s water systems are located in low income communities which makes it hard to gather funds for improvement. However, the distribution of water to all parts of California has many positive aspects to it. Many regions of the state have water restrictions and limited uses of water, which makes makes it more difficult for these regions. People have argued that the provision

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.

Water sustainability is an ever-growing problem because of the increase in population, and over consumption used by agriculture, industry, and domestic which are using more water than we are able to supply. According to CBS News, California’s water shortage has been a big issue since 2011. Climate change has a lot to do with the amount of water we have available to us because the amount we need does not cut out to the amount needed to satisfy the population. Therefore, conservation is key; we must take into consideration the amount we use in a daily basis. Both you and I can easily save water we have, directly and indirectly like what we consume with what we eat, buy and use, which would overall improve water sustainability.

Thomas Fuller once said “we never know the worth of water till the well is dry” (Fuller). As a species we need water to cook, clean, and most importantly live. With water being a natural resource overuse and misuses of it can cause its supply to rapidly dwindle down, and that’s exactly what’s happening in California right now. California's water comes a married of places such as aquifers, groundwater, surface water, rivers, reservoirs, dams and irrigation systems where 80% of that water goes towards agriculture and 20% to urban/residential use. California’s water supply is so substandard that the state can’t even say their predicament is a drought, but it can be classified as a crisis. And to add insult to injury the states infrastructure has

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.

Water is the most important resource, controlling all aspects of life. The effect on climate change is changing California’s water quality and quantity. This creates

The drought in California has presented some controversial and difficult issues for the residents of the state. Due to the lack of rain and fresh water the state has began, with no regulation, pumping irreplaceable groundwater to aid the drought. This is an out of sight crisis considering it is invisible in the average persons life. Furthermore, as long as residents are continuing to have access to water in their homes and work places the crisis is largely out of sight out of mind. However,

California is the nation’s leading agricultural producer and one of the major agricultural regions of the world. Reductions in precipitation and water available for irrigation are being largely offset by increased groundwater pumping, an unsustainable situation at least in the southern Central Valley” (Wang 6997-6998). What will California do when we have used most of our underground water? What solutions will we be left with as a state? Maybe now is the time for California to enforce new laws in order to find a solution to this water drought. Besides raising water prices, California needs to enforce all residents living in California to reuse water by making it a state law. Residents and business owners in California should be notified ahead of time regarding this new law so they can prepare their business and homes with water systems that will allow them to reuse water. These water systems should be required to use recycled water to irrigate landscapes and crops. By enforcing this law the entire state would be able to conserve more water towards the possibility of ending this water drought. Homes and businesses in California should also be required to install graywater systems to water lawns and flush toilets. If residents do not apply any of these new laws then residents should find themselves with a fine of a