Businesses are running out of water. Dairy farms ca't
grow food to field their herd. Reservoirs are
drying-up. The western half of the United States is
struggling with a mega-drought. “A period of at least
20 years of below substantially below norma
precipitation. And we are in one of the worst mega
droughts that is gripped the West in the last 500
years” said Professor Kevin Perry, Atmospheric
Sciences, University of Utah. The current mega-drought
started in the year 2000. A mega-drought does not mean
there are drought conditions each year, but is
identified when there is below normal precipitation for
most years.Scientists use precipitation data and
proxy data gathered from tree rings identify and verify
historic droughts.“We don't know how long this
particular mega drought is goin to last. But it's very
common to have these mega-droughts, that persist for
20-30 40-50 years. And so we don't know what this
particular one holds, though” Perry said. The
mega-drought is drying out a large swath of the country
stretching from the upper Midwest across to the Pacific
Northwest. The extent of the drought raising
comparisons to another historic American drought.“At
this point, we're essentially at our lowest
precipitation levels in if not 40 to 45 years,
potentially even longer going back into the dustbowl
era of the late 1930s” said Erik Ekdahl, Deputy Dir.,
California Division of Water Rights. California
resident Connie Jenkins grew-up in Northern California.
She brought her family to Lake Mendocino for a picnic.
Instead of finding a lake, she found a dry lakebed.
“Just never seen anything like it. People are usually
fishing, swimming enjoying themselves” said Jenkins.
Lake Mendocino was built in the 1950s to help control
floods, create recreation and provide water storage.
When full, the lake is 131 feet deep. Now, it is nearly
empty, and state water officials predict it will be
empty by December. The drought Is not just drying-up
lakes, but it is also drying-out forests and fan
massive wildfires.“Drought is absolutely driving the
fires” said Professor Andrew Latimer, Plant Sciences,
UC Davis. So far this year, wildfires have burned mor
than six million acres of forests across the country.
The drought hitting dairy farmers especially hard. Some
farms are already selling off their herds.“We are
totally out of irrigation water for our pasture. If it
continues, we probably will hav to sell some more to
just make sure we have enough feed to feed everything”
said Doug Beretta, California Dairy Farmer. It is not
just dairy farms suffering, vegetable and fruit farmers
in the San Joaquin Valley are struggling to irriga
their crops. The Valley is the most productive
agricultural area in the United States. Due to water
cutbacks, farmers are forced to leave large amounts of
their farms fallow.“We've alway known that a lack of
water is a potential hardship for our farm. But to get
to the point where it completely stops the farm. We
never thought that would happen” said Joe Del Bosque,
owner Del Bosque Farms. Along the picturesque
California Pacific Ocean coast, the tourist town of
Mendocino is running out of water. Businesses are
closing their public toilets because ther's not enough
water to flush the toilets. California Gov. Gavin
Newsom asked residents to voluntarily cut their water
usage by 15 percent, but statewide residents only
reduced their usage by less than two percent.“All of
us are part of the problem and all of us are part of
the solution. We're here and that's perfectly fine and
we have to live with nature and with the climate. Us
the water that you need but not a drop more” said
Professor Samuel Sandoval, Water Resource Management,
UC Davis. The rainy and snow season in the western
United States and specifically California, runs f
October through March. In order to break the drought,
the region needs above average precipitation.“What you
need is you need to have a change of the large-scal
weather patterns, so that you end up with
higher-than-average precipitati a period of
several years. In order to break the mega drought, one
year of above normal precipitation will not break th
cycle that we're in for a mega drought” said Perry.