In recent years there has been so much talk and propaganda regarding the ongoing in drought in California. Scholars argue when the exact start of the drought was, but I believe that it started in 2007 because rainfall has fallen below average since then. Droughts occur because the quantity demanded of water does not meet the quantity supplied which leads to a shortage. The drought has impacted not only everyone in the state, but also the ecosystem. While there are many reasons why there is a shortage of water in California; today I will touch on three of them, the lack of precipitation, increase in population, and wasteful water use. In my research I will report on these three reasons and look at possible solutions for this most recent dismal event in California.
The average rainfall for California is XXX but in more recent years that has not been the case. Since 2007 Californians has seen below average amount of rainfall, especially in 2013 where only 7 inches of rain fell. That is about 4.6 inches less than the second lowest recorded rainfall year which was in 1898. In addition, California has also been experiencing above average temperatures. The combination of low amount of rain and high temperature equals a recipe for disaster. There is also a decrease in snow level in the Sierra Nevada. Snow is important to many different people from agriculturalist, recreationalists, to municipalities. I will discover and report how the lack of rainfall, snow, and high temperatures
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
A major problem in Southern California is that Los Angeles experiences very little rain all year, followed by intense downpours that last less than one day (53). Its unreliable rainfall severely hurts the region. In Northern California, mountains such as the Sierra Nevada allow for a huge range in rainfall over a short distance. “…a place on the western slope of the range may receive eighty or so inches of precipitation in a year, while a place on the east slope, fifty miles away, may receive ten inches or less” (58).
What if you were not able to shower for five months, what if you could not wash your
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.
Water resources in the state of California have deteriorated drastically as a result of the current drought event in the west coast of the United States. This has resulted in insufficient supplies of water to residents of southern California, as well as the devastation of wildlife and aquatic ecosystems that are characteristic of this area. This policy analysis will provide the context of the issue, as well as possible solutions, followed by a proposed policy plan to reach the policy goal of equitable and reliable water allocation in the state of California, drought resilience, as well as restoration of the destroyed ecosystems.
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
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.
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,
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.
The California Drought is one of the most catastrophic weather and climate related events in recent history. It has singlehandedly altered the geographic landscape of the state and brought down entire industries to a grinding halt. Not since global warming became a prominent fixture in the national spotlight has a climate issue so deeply challenged Californians to reconsider their lifestyles according to their climate conditions. This essay will examine the origins of climate change and the California Drought, how the two are related, the current state of California as a result of the drought, and the future outlook of California.
Along with global warming, factors such as population growth and increased demands, inefficient use of water resources, overuse of groundwater, mismanagement of water supply systems, misguided policies, and so on contributed to the occurrence of one of the worst droughts that California is experiencing in 2014-2015, which has a negative impact not only on environment, but also on social and economic sectors of California.
After 4 years of intensive drought, California declared a state of emergency in January 2015 and California water crisis has been one of the biggest environmental issues in America (US. Geological Survey, 2015). On April 1, 2015, the governor of California, Jerry Brown, visited Sierra Nevada to measure the amount of snowpack, which has been done annually, and a formidable result came out. The measurement of snowpack of Sierra Nevada of this year met only 5 percent of the April 1 average. According to the record, it is the lowest number since 1950. So the governor Jerry Brown ordered a 25% cut in urban water use in California (Cava, 2015) between June 2015 and February 2016(Circle of Blue, 2015). For the first time in the history, the mandatory water reduction enforced in California, and in order to accomplish the order, Californians should have better knowledge about the water that we daily consume. The aim of this paper is to observe the supply, distribution, use, and disposal of the water in California.