The drought in the western United States has been going on for nearly five years and while there are countless ways to lessen the effects, there isn’t much action being taken. If nothing is done, the supply of groundwater in the United States along with the quality of it will greatly diminish within the next few decades. In many Western states such as California, the residents haven’t been taking much notice to the situation due to their use of the use of water from aquifers and reservoirs without strict regulations. The continuous use of water from these aquifers will eventually result in empty aquifers and no fresh, potable water for residents in the affected areas and in order for a change to actually be made the people must realize what kind of situation they are actually in and that if they do not follow regulations put forth they will be in a dangerous situation. Aquifers are being tapped into in order to supplement the water not being provided naturally throughout the drought. The water being taken from these aquifers are distributed for many different uses, but the number one consumer of this water is agriculture. In the United States around 80 percent of the nation 's consumption of water goes towards agricultural purposes and in western states almost 90 percent of their water supply (USDA, 2013). If these states continue to use the groundwater from aquifers and reservoirs, such as the Ogallala, at such a high rate, roughly 70 percent of this water will be gone in
Each year, at least 7.8 trillion gallons of water are drawn up from the Ogalla Aquifer to irrigate the crops planted on the High Plains. These cros are the main food sourrce for our entire country. Tragically, irrigation is depleting the aquifer faster than it can replenish itself, and that is the problem. In fact, only the tiniest fraction of the water is ever replaced in the Ogallala Aquifer. If the water were ever fully depleted, the aquifer would need 6,000 years to refill naturally (Zwingle 83). The only way the Ogalla can be replenished is by water seeping down through the layers of soil until it reaches the aquifer. This water comes from the small amount of precipitation in the region, as well as from streams, reservoirs, canals, and irrigation (McGuire and Sharpe).
In a dry year, the “groundwater contributes up to 46 percent (or more) of the statewide annual supply”
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
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.
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.
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
Californians are being heavily fined for using a certain amount of water a month, which impacts the daily lives of everyone. Water is a natural resource that is crucial to everyone’s survival. Whether if it’s being used for cooking, showering, gardening, washing your car or just simply drinking purposes; water is a necessity for everyone. Though the bill has not yet been passed by congress and officially has not become a law, the issue still remains on the table. The drought in California has taken a massive toll on agriculture, the environment and infrastructure. The drought is on its route to damage California’s climate change. In the past three consecutive years the average rain fall has drastically decreased, and the winter temperatures have increased. Since majority of California’s water comes from the Western Rocky Mountains, the water supply there is dropping resulting in more strict laws and regulations on how much water can be consumed by the average
Abraham Lustgarten has written a very informative article that is published by Pro Publica and titled “How the West Overcounts Its Water Supplies.” In great detail, he analyzes the drought situation in Arizona and California to draw attention the underlying cause: the miscounting of available water. There is miscounting because officials are refusing to legally accept that the major water resource of the West—the Colorado River—is interconnected with underground water resources. All in all, Lustgarten writes a convincing article that effectively addresses the need for officials to recognize the interconnection of ground and surface water so that water shortage in the West can be better managed; he does this through his ability to gain the
Would you like to go without a shower for five months? California right now are in an unfavorable and enormous drought. As a result, many citizens don’t have water to drink water, flush the toilet, take a shower, and wash the dishes. Also, Farmers don’t have enough water to harvest crops so if they can’t harvest crops, we won’t have enough food. Therefore, I support the regulations that allow the California Farm Bureau to control groundwater for all citizens.
Families have been without water for months! This needs to stop, we need water regulations. Over the past few years, California has been in a terrible drought, because people are taking way too much ground water. Regulations for groundwater should happen in the State of California.
What if you had no water to bathe, wash dishes, or even drink? This is the future we face here in California if the state doesn’t act to conserve our water and ensure that it is wasted as little as possible. California is in its 3rd year of a debilitating drought, and many citizens, especially farmers are dangerously tapping more into an nonrenewable resource: groundwater. In light of the severity of current and future problems that have or will result from the depletion of the fast-emptying subterranean reserves of water, California’s Legislature has introduced a new bill designed to limit and control the use of groundwater, a decision that all other western states have already made. I believe that this new bill is necessary to prevent California
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
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.
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.
Can you imagine living in a nauseating, vile, and disgusting manner? Well Californians can. Currently, the state of California is in the midst of a severe drought. This drought is one of the worst droughts in the state’s recorded history. Due to this drought, more than a thousand of California’s residents have lost their water. The drought sparks a conflict for the residents. People can not bathe, use their toilets, wash their dishes, or do anything with water. Because of the overuse of groundwater, a law is being established in the California State Legislature that would maintain aquifer, the pumping of groundwater, for the first time in history. In other words, residents would not be able to pump water which is naturally available under their