California's Drought in Perspective
Rate of drought / The New York Times
Scientists are calling the current wave of drought, which began
to spread across California, much ofthe Southwest, Texas, and
Oklahoma in 2011, the worst drought since the 1950s. While the
droughthas ebbed in Texas and parts of the Southwest, California
and other states continue to bear thebrunt of this epic change in
rainfall. As of the end of March 2015, approximately 37 percent of
thecontiguous United States was still experiencing at least
moderate drought conditions. The New YorkTimes' analysis of the
Palmer index, which tracks rates of drought going back 100 years,
found thatthe 10-year average for drought has been increasing for
most of the last 20 years. In California in2014 alone, the cost of
the drought was $2.2 billion, with 17,000 agricultural jobs
lost.
In the face of the crisis, California Governor Jerry Brown has
instituted the first mandatory waterrestrictions in his state's
history, requiring all 400 local water boards to reduce water use
by 25percent -- or face stiff fines. He has said watering lawns
will soon be a thing of the past, but it'sunclear if everyone will
heed the call. The Los Angeles Times points out that the wealthiest
residentsconsistently use higher amounts of water, perhaps because
they can afford to, ignoring the calls forconservation. More
responsible homeowners have already gotten rid of their lawns in
favor of nativeplants and other techniques that reduce water use
for landscapes, while others are investigating"smart lawn
sprinklers" that have built-in sensors.
Controversially, farmers, who use 80 percent of the state's
water, are exempt from these
restrictions. But Brown has defended them, telling PBS Newshour:
"Agriculture is fundamental toCalifornia. And, yes, they use most
of the water, and they produce the food and the fiber that we
alldepend on and which we export to countries all around the world.
So, we're asking them too to giveus information, to file
agriculture water plans, to manage their underground water, to
share withother farmers."
A 2014 study from the University of California at Davis Center
for Watershed Studies found thatfarmers have already been hit hard:
a "6.6 million-acre-foot reduction in surface water." Accordingto
The San Francisco Chronicle, one acre-foot is equivalent to about a
football field covered in water."That has meant a 25 percent
reduction in the normal amount of surface water available
toagriculture. And it was mostly replaced by increased groundwater
pumping." Last year, Gov. Brownalso pushed through a new
groundwater management law, putting in stricter limits on
groundwateruse that will take years to come into effect.
While some farmers have cut back on the amount of landplanted,
just given the lack of overall water or itsextremely high cost,
farmers of water-intensive almonds,walnuts, and pistachios have
only expanded the landdedicated to these nuts. According to The New
YorkTimes, "the land for almond orchards in California hasdoubled
in 20 years, to 860,000 acres. The industry hasbeen working hard to
improve its efficiency, but growinga single almond can still
require as much as a gallon of
California's precious water."
In the 20th century, drought hit the U.S. in waves. From 1997 to
1998, a major drought, whichaffected 36 percent of the country,
created $39 billion in damages. The northern Great Plains wereworst
hit, but the west coast and Pacific Northwest were also impacted.
With the loss of rain,terrestrial systems dry out, raising the
number of forest fires. According to Live Science, in 1988,793,880
acres of Yellowstone National Park burned, prompting the first
complete closure of the parkin history. In the 1950s, drought
conditions, at their peak, covered more than half of the
country.The National Climate Data Center explains that this drought
devastated the Great Plains region; insome areas, crop yields
dropped as much as 50 percent. And during the Dust Bowl in the
1930s, theU.S. was hit by three waves of drought that at one point
impacted more than 70 percent of thecountry, with mass migrations
and a great loss in agricultural productivity for years after.
As The Washington Post meteorology team explains, just because
the western and southern droughthas officially ended in some
places, it doesn't meant it's actually over. Communities will need
doubleor triple the amount of water they would receive under normal
conditions to undo the deficit,recharge groundwater, and restore
incredibly low reservoir levels. It will take more than a
fewstorms. Stringent water conservation is here to stay.
But in the meantime, California, the Southwest, Texas, and other
states can make better use of theirwater resources -- by applying
water-efficient drip irrigation systems in the agricultural sector,
likeIsraeli farms have been doing for years; replacing lawns with
drought-tolerant native plants; gettingrid of leaks, wasteful
showerheads, and full-flush toilets in homes and businesses; and
recycling andreusing all greywater and even blackwater.
