California Must Invest in Cost Effective Long-Term Drought Solutions Aldrin Biltz, Conflict and Conflict Resolution, May 17th 2015 I. Background and Context: It has been confirmed that the year 2013 has been recorded as the driest year since California became a state, 165 years ago. This means California has been and is now experiencing its worst drought ever in history. Precipitation and snowpack levels remain well below average, and there does not seem to be an end in sight. As an effort to relieve the negative impacts caused by the drought, Edmund G. Brown Jr., California 's Governor, declared California 's drought a state of emergency and issued state officials to take all necessary actions to assist communities and asked for all …show more content…
While desalination, is indeed an effective long-term solution, it isn 't necessarily the most cost competitive method, because it can cost four to eight times more expensive than alternative solutions. II. Stakes: Economic: When planning on investing for the drought, California should be careful and look to past mistakes to help mitigate the chances of repeated economic failure. For example, in response to the drought that occurred in 1986 to 1991, the city of Santa Barbra spent $34 million U.S. Dollars to fund the construction of a desalination plant which was promptly made idle because it cost way too much to operate. Now the city of Santa Barbra is planning to invest in the reactivation of the plant which will consist of a two year process that can cost up to 20.2 million dollars. Political: Of the $687 million dollars invested, it included $25.3 million for food and $21 million for housing individuals, like farm workers who are out of work. In February, President Barack Obama also announced that the federal government would chip in $183 million to the state. Therefore, the state and federal governments have put hundreds of millions of dollars into aid and it is crucial for them to create a sense of efficiency to the people of California in order to avoid any difficulty in the long run.
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.
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
California is currently experiencing the worst drought in history and its not only affecting California – its affecting everyone. The California drought has become a slow movie disaster. You don’t realize how bad it is, until it hits you hard.
No Californian is impervious to the California drought. The Bay Area, Sierra Mountains, and the Central Valley have all reported record drought conditions. Even with this obvious evidence that has been brought forth for about four years now, farmers have been continuously taking local citizen’s water for their own orchards. The California legislature needs to come to the decision that caps need to be put on large water users so the preexisting residents may receive water.
California’s continuous drought not only affects California, but essentially impacts the entire food system. Could you imagine an entire state unable to contribute to the growing demands of a thriving economy? As California enters its fifth year of drought the consequences of an ever depleting natural resource, water, continues to negatively impact landscape plants, agricultural production, wildlife, and the economy. The lack of water in California has the potential to have a devastating effect on an ever thriving economy.
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.
According to state climatologist Michael Anderson, “California cannot count on potential El Nino conditions to halt or reverse drought conditions…there is a 50/50 chance of having a wetter winter… due to shifting climate patterns, we cannot even be that sure” (“Do Not Count on El Nino to End Drought”, par. 1). This shows that the chances are not good for the drought to end this winter. Also, temperatures have been at a record high and the snow pack has been at a record low during the current drought (“Do Not Count on El Nino to End Drought”, par.2). This information shows again that it is not likely for the drought to end soon. Since there is no definite, foreseeable ending to the drought, what little and valuable water California has needs to be put to a use that will be beneficial to everyone; 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 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 is known for its vast production of agriculture; having some of the most fertile soil on Earth, a 4-year drought is not what California wants. The lack of water in California has had dramatic effects within the state. In fact California’s governor, Jerry Brown, has declared it a state of emergency. A drought is a serious weather condition in which many people and the environment is entirely affected. A drought is essentially a difference in the amount of water in a region and the amount of water that the people and the environment in that region needs (Mann et al. 2015). The definition of a drought varies throughout regions depending on the amount of water each region receives and needs. The time limit to announce a drought also
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.
First and foremost, it is important to know why the past 4 years of drought affected California to the extreme and it did not affect it as much in the several past droughts. Richman (2015) stated in his research paper that, “ The
California has been in a drought for about 4 years now and it has been considered the most severe drought in the last 15 years. The California drought has been causing multiple ongoing problems for the last few years. The state of California has tried to take actions toward ending the drought, but the efforts put forth are clearly not enough to end this drought. The main focus in ending the drought has been water conservation, but many California resident are taking the seriousness of the drought too lightly. The drought has already caused several problems, for example water shortages, dying crops, and wildfires all across the state. If serious actions towards ending the drought are not taken soon, California will continue to surface or may get worse. There are a few ideas underway to try and end the drought in California such as, desalination, wastewater recycling, ground water digging, and the main focus water conservation. All of the solutions to ending the drought will cost a good amount of money, so the fact of the matter is which idea would be most efficient and less costly.
Despite the Earth's surface being covered in over 70% of water, California is in dire need of that natural resource. California has been in under this dry spell since December of 2012, and there are no signs that it will be ending anytime soon. However, this is not the first time California has seen a shortage of water. According to San Jose Mercury News (2014), California has seen several droughts that usually lasted between 10-20 years. By studying tree rings, researchers found that the longest drought in California's history lasted 240 years. Hopefully, this current drought will not be near as long. While it's proven that water does not vanish, California continues to be in a state of drought due to increases in population, high demands
With a growing population of 38 million, California has plenty to offer. However, it lacks a very important necessity for it’s large and rapidly growing population. History has shown water has always been a scarce resource in California. One of the main factors is climate. Although the sunny weather has always been a big-ticket appeal, year round warm temperatures result in dry regions and lack of rainfall. The state has had its fair share of water shortages from time to time. In 2014 governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, as the state continues its record-breaking drought. There are many factors aside from lack of rainfall that come into play. The causes of the severe drought can be pinpointed onto a number of factors such as