California Drought Research Paper

I.) Water and Drought in California: Facts and data show that the weather we are experiencing here in California is that there is a difference between La Niña that brings the ocean temperature down and making them cooler and El Niño brings much warmer ocean temperatures. Currently california is experiencing a weakened La Niña. With a 55% chance of this weather continuing for the next 3 months. La Niña affect patterns of rainfall, atmospheric pressure, and global atmospheric circulation. Even though California is in a severe drought, with coordination, modernization, and compromise, California should be able to provide enough water for a growing population and growing economy.

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

Drought condition exists throughout most of Arizona. Variable amounts of rainfall throughout last year’s where was significantly below the normal with surface water flows, reservoir levels, and well water pumping levels are at some of their lowest ever recorded all of that act as indication of drought occurrence. Drought is a normal recurring feature of climate, not a rare or random event. Climate influence water quality throughout temperature, precipitation, and wind by affecting the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of water. For instance, temperature fluctuation results in more stress on aquatic organism within water body, in the same way wind fluctuation has a direct effect on evaporation rate. Municipal water providers in Flagstaff, Williams, Mayer, Pine, Strawberry, and in areas near Sierra Vista, Sonoita, and Picacho have suffered from some potable

Have you thought about the importance of water recently? Water provides many things to people, from green lawns to nutritious food. An event that may have spurred these thoughts is the drought in California. They are struggling because there is simply not enough water in California to go around for all of its uses. Measures have been taken to conserve water, but cutbacks have been made on everything, even the giant industry of California agriculture. More water should be devoted to agricultural uses instead of residential uses in California for the following reasons:

In 2011, Texas experienced its most gruesome drought since the 1950’s. During this drought the average rainfall from October through April was 5.82 inches. The drought effected the vast majority of the livestock, agricultural, and wildlife in Texas. Droughts cause numerous problems and effect vast amounts of wildlife and human lives.

Californians have been struggling with trying to conserve our water for over three years. Twenty-Thirteen was our driest year in many populated areas in California, and it doesn't seem to be changing any time soon, unless we all act now. In twenty-thirteen, Los Angeles and Sacramento, went down on record as the driest two cities in California. A drought is when area of land scarcely drop rain. Droughts are caused from climate changes and lack of precipitation, resulting in a shortage of water. Water is vital for all living things and is the essential component of all life. This ongoing drought has drastically affected the state of California. The long-term change in climate is truly affecting California. Our water reservations are lower than

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 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.

Is California’s drought affecting some of California’s ecosystems? Hopefully not since there are many short term and long term effects of the drought on California. Also, limited water is a big problem in California.

Here we are in 2015 and California is still in desperate need for water. California is currently in a drought that started in 2012. That is 3 years straight of limited to no perpetration. However, this is not uncommon for California. This region has gone quite custom to operating off of minimum rainfall.

The California drought as of March 2015 has increased severely and has affected not just the residents of California, but also the farmers as well. My claim is to find a reliable way to save water and have the residents of California informed about the situation and the wastefulness of water being replenished. In this paper I want to address the issue of how much water we are constantly wasting even though we are in an exceptionally severe drought. I believe that the water shortage not only affects the residents but also takes a toll in the agricultural areas as well. I want to argue the point that everyone who wastes water is held responsible and what we could do

Now you may be thinking to yourself, “How can California even start to cope with this drought? How can it go back to normal in a climate that receives little snowpack and rain?” Well although these issues are complex, there have been some achievements-political and otherwise-toward developing more resilient water supplies. One way is groundwater legislation: our Governor, Jerry Brown, signed legislation mandating “sustainable groundwater management,” though the law leaves local entities to define that idea further."We have to learn to manage wisely water, energy, land and our investments, that 's why this is important," said Governor Brown (CA.gov). Another way our government is helping is the spending on water projects.

The economy, agriculture, and natural life of the state will be in turmoil if there are not more actions and orders put in place to prevent the over consumption of water. This needs to start with preserving current water resources, especially aquifers and groundwater wells, in order to allow the rebuilding process of reservoirs to occur. The distribution of water in the state needs to be altered to accommodate the drought, as the snowpacks and aquifers aren’t up to maximum height, meaning less efficiency. The water acquired through runoff isn’t enough to fuel the entire state of California’s needs as important urban developments and agricultural goods are not being watered (USGS). The winter months usually provide for the entire state as a whole, yet since the beginning of the 2011 drought, many have been forced to change their lifestyles due to the unforeseen circumstances brought on by the arid climate and drought. All in all, the current distribution of water and the usage of the water in the entire state is wasteful and damaging to the environment and future. Support for low-use shower and faucet heads, as well as toilets that use less gallons of water will ultimately be the best start for the state’s solution to the drought. Coupled with executive action by the Governor and a drastic redesign of the distribution of water in the state,the devastating effects of the

In 2014, Governor Brown issued an affirmation declaring a California drought state of emergency actively calling “all Californians to conserve water in every way possible (“Governor Brown Declares Drought State of Emergency”).” In addition, California state water officials said that “California rivers and reservoirs are below their record lows”. This problem not only pertains to the past but carries as an ongoing issue in California. California remains the top state in water consumption, taking up 11% of the United State’s water supply (Koroma). As a consequence, an estimated population of 24,838,128 people are inhabiting drought-stricken areas. Educating users on water consumption, taxing agricultural products which consume high levels of

It wasn’t so long ago America experienced one of its biggest natural disasters. From this event many lost their homes, vegetation, and brought the great depression to an even worse position. The worst American drought was known as the “dust bowl” in the 1930’s, many citizens didn’t see it coming because they didn’t see the signs and for that same reason many suffered. Today California is receiving the same signs that it’s coming to a drought, but the citizens don’t seem to take it seriously to what the outcome could come too. The people from California need to understand that there has to be something done to preserve more water. Discipline is key to preserve more water, it can all start at home by also being responsible managing how much water you should be using. Cities as well should put in action by investing more money to give our community the best up to date irrigation system, and or have a larger amount of city workers around the clock inspect all the areas to see no wasting is occurring.