Water Shortage In California

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 is in a drought and has been for the last three years. Southern California especially is affected by the drought that is now become a regular occurrence with no end in sight. With decreased rainfall and a steadily growing population, Southern California residents now have to make an effort to conserve the renewable resource that is water. Everyone uses water and humans, like all mammals, requires water for survival. With increased demand and decreased supply, water companies now charge more for water than ever before. Water companies can also use this as a way to educate the customers who habitually overuse water with the goal of persuading them to conserve the limited resources available. Recycled water is a more sustainable alternative, however even after treating and purifying that water, it would be still unsafe to drink, and even if it were, no one in their right mind would want to pay to drink what is a essentially sewer water.

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.

Why do citizens have to overuse water? California has a drought and laws are trying to stop the way that people overuse water. I believe that it's a good way to control water to prevent numerous things that will affect the state and innocent people.

How would you feel if you had a water shortage? That would mean shorter shower, less crops, and a big problem.In Colorado, the Colorado River is drying up. It is getting so populated in that area that they are running out of water. I feel bad for the farmers. What about their crops?

Water is the most precious resource to mankind. With every living substance needing water from humans, animals, and plants it is the one thing no living creature can survive without. The thought of losing or having restricted access to water is a very frightening one. Water shortages not only pose an epic threat for the obvious reason, that water is needed, to drink, but also to the lives around us. With little or no water people would have to make hard decisions such as, letting an animal dehydrate so they can have enough water for their families to survive or who they should ration the water to and how much to ration to save as many people as possible. California has been experiencing a very severe drought that has cost California millions of dollars in agriculture and manufacturing due to low water. Though their drought is not apocalyptic yet, but it could worsen and become an apocalypse that we should fear. The changes that can come from such a disaster would change the lives of everyone in society. The ways water shortages could come about is multiple ways such as, drought, poor management of water, or political issues. Water corruption is a threat to society which needs to be dealt with efficiently and immediately.

Fresno is a city located in central California, also known as San Joaquin Valley Famously knows for its grape field and green trees. Known for where the immigrants came to work, by picking grapes making little to know money. Every year I go back to visit my home town about twice a year, each time we get near the grape vine which is located between Fresno and Las Angeles. The first thing that is noticed by the eye is the magnificent greenery and farm lands that can’t be passed without notice of its beauty. Every tree was full and rich looking to the roots and all around the ground would look moist and fully watered, without a doubt these farm lands where being taken care of. Recently in the past three years of taking the long exhausting drive from the dry lands of Tucson to the green lands of Fresno hasn’t been the same. The green lands of central valley are not as green as they once were. The grounds look dry and not as moist as before.

The state of California has are large gap between the amount of water that people use and the

In the article, “The Wrong Way to Think about California Water”, by Michael Hiltzik, Hiltzik writes about some people’s perspectives of the water usage in California. I disagree with some of them, but I also agree to some. I relate to one of the perspectives and I will try to stop doing what is wasting water.

Water is essential to sustain life. It is becoming an ever more valuable resource every year as it becomes scarcer. The general problem is that California is in the midst of a severe drought. The specific problem is that the typical urban consumer has little knowledge of how to reduce their every day consumption of water. Urban usage accounts for approximately 5.7 million acre-feet per year, which equates to approximately 10% of California’s annual water supply in a year with normal precipitation (Burt, 2014). In this previous water year (October 1, 2013 - September 30, 2014) California experienced its driest year in 119 years (Ca.Gov/Water Conditions). Serious action needs to be taken immediately to reduce consumptive usage, especially in the case of urban consumption of water. Shakespeare famously said “I to the world am like a drop of water that in the ocean seeks another drop”. While each individual may believe their actions to be insignificant, in the bigger picture, California needs every drop it can get.

Agriculture in California uses about 80% of the state’s developed water supply (Koroma). In a case of severe drought, water usage would have to be cut, which would result in fewer crops and higher prices of food. The decrease in water would also highly impact the amount of drinking water available to the population. In times of struggle, people would turn to sources such as river and ocean water which are not filtered correctly and this could lead to serious diseases such as cholera or guinea worm disease. Lastly, due to California’s large population, a water shortage would not be able to sustain it, people would be forced to relocate to other states which could result in

Over the past 4 years the water crisis has been rearing its mean head not only across the globe, but here in our home country, in the state of California. The citizens in California have moved having a normal lawn of grass into the luxury category. Not only have lakes and rivers dried up, but reservoirs that provide water for the entire state have dropped to hazardous levels. In Calaveras County, home of the state’s fourth largest reservoir, levels of water have dropped to only 20% capacity.

Californians are using standard heads on their showers and are taking an abundant amount to get clean. There are so many products that you can buy at your local store that can reduce water use by half of what you regularly use. People who don’t use WaterSense shower heads that save up to 2,900 gallons per day and instead use regular shower head should be warned and show the problems it caused to our water supply. Those who over water their lawns are wasting 265 gallons of water monthly, and those who wash their cars and driveways are wasting 80 to 140 gallons of water were as an actual car wash garage only uses 30 to 45 gallons of water, we might think we are not wasting a lot, but we actually are. We do know that agriculture takes almost 70% of the water usage in California, but that’s because we need that water to help our produce survive. “California is one of the biggest providers in the world for fruits, vegetables and nuts.” (Zamora, Amanda, Lauren Kirchner, and Abrahm Lustgarten 2014) Without water providing this help, California would be affected almost

For at least the past four years, California has been in a drought. Since it has been so long of a drought, officials are finally starting to encourage people to diminish their usage of water. When the encouragements are not working, they use force and statewide restrictions are put into place. In an article titled ¨The Wrong Way to Think about California Water¨ by Michael Hiltzik, the author rants on Californians for the amount of water that they use daily, yearly, and constantly. However, the argument only supports one side.

In the article ¨Mandatory Water Restrictions in California¨ by LA Times, states that Governor Jerry Brown decided to announce the first water restrictions in California history. Brown thinks that restricting water would reduce it by 25%. I definitely agree with Brown about putting water restrictions because first of all, it would allow everyone to use water wisely and not waste it. Brown has a plan to reward people who decide that “replacing old dishwashers and washing machines” would save probably tons of water ( LA Times 4 ). Brown’s plan may be the start into saving more water, and the customers start saving water and money too.