Water Crisis in California

California is a state that is known for multiple things, but one of the most important things is Agriculture. Therefore, it is a necessity to protect agriculture and allow it to continue to increase revenue for the state. To do this, we created our own agency to look after everything agricultural in our state. The California Department of Food and Agriculture ensures the safety and health of various food and crops for controlling the agricultural regularity of all farms and crop growing operations in the state. The agency is overseen by both current California governor Jerry Brown and the branch’s president Craig McNamara. According to their website, “California agriculture is a $46.4 billion dollar industry that generates at least $100 billion

While the Midwest may be “the breadbasket of the United States,” the Central Valley of California is the entire rest of the Thanksgiving meal on the table for the country. With its fertile soil, Mediterranean climate, and expansive flat land, the Central Valley produces more than 250 different crops that produce more than $20 billion annually, meaning it provides over half the produce grown in the United States. Recent droughts, recession, and growing urbanization in California have changed the conversation around farming practices and the large role family farms still play in the state. Popular opinions circulating the urban areas were calling into question the sacrifices farms were making throughout the drought, believing they got a

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.

In recent years there has been so much talk and propaganda regarding the ongoing in drought in California. Scholars argue when the exact start of the drought was, but I believe that it started in 2007 because rainfall has fallen below average since then. Droughts occur because the quantity demanded of water does not meet the quantity supplied which leads to a shortage. The drought has impacted not only everyone in the state, but also the ecosystem. While there are many reasons why there is a shortage of water in California; today I will touch on three of them, the lack of precipitation, increase in population, and wasteful water use. In my research I will report on these three reasons and look at possible solutions for this most recent dismal event in California.

California is undergoing a huge environmental crisis of water shortages across the state. California produces almost half of the US grown vegetables, fruits, and nuts. It produces more than 400 commodities (CDFA,2013). The drought has had a huge effect on agriculture because the farmers have received drastic cuts on their water usages which greatly affected their yields. The whole United States is feeling the effects due to the drought because of less crop yields, prices have

The low of water affect the most important supply of agriculture in the U.S. California agriculture produce more than 90% of food to the United States. The drought causes a massive economic problem from two directions. Katie Fehrenbacher from The Guardian states that agriculture industry has lost $1.5bn and more than 17,000 seasonal job. That statistic shows that the drought causes the agriculture a huge loss of money and farmers do not have jobs anymore. As a result the prices of food will rise and the cost of water will decrease. Since 2011 when the draught begun no one take a position or talk about it as a real problem they did not start to think about a real solutions to solve the problem until now. The mandatory cut of using water is a temporary solution the water will not last for more than one year. Reduce agriculture will hit the economy of the state and cause many problems because the lack of jobs. The number of Crimes will rise in the areas that suffer mostly from draught; people cannot find food or water. Farmers digging for water underground which increase the consumption of the underground water by 40%. Also, as far they go underground the amount of salt in water increase,

California's future will be heavily impacted by this drought if things don’t change. Everything from its economy, to the people, to the physical land itself, is being threatened. According to American Farmland Trust, one eighth of the nation’s agricultural production comes from California: a third of the nation’s vegetables, and almost two thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts. Agriculture is an enormous industry and is occasionally the only industry in certain parts of the state that is going through a severe drought. It’s impossible to grow crops without water, and it’s impossible to make money from crops that never grew, so in many areas the economy would collapse without sufficient water. American Farmland Trust

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.

With California having 76,400 farms and ranches received $54 billion output in crops in 2014 is considered the nation’s leader in agricultural output. Their agricultural large quantity includes more than 420 commodities, which produces nearly half of the United States grown nuts, fruits, and vegetables. The most valuable crops are cannabis, oranges, grapes, nuts, cotton, and flowers. US consumers across the nation purchase several crops that are produced in California. Their exports climbed to 21.4 billion in value representing a 16 percent increase over last year’sexports.

In recent years, California’s water shortage has been an issue and in 2014 an alarming driest historical year has impacted the state in different ways. Because of the lack of rainfall and snow, California’s reservoirs are running insignificant water basins below their capacity. While water shortages are experienced slowly and throughout a length of time, the harshest impacts are noticeable in areas that produce California’s food where wells are used as resource for water in agriculture, and residential areas. Though, most agree the drought is an issue some do not agree. To understand the circumstances, this paper will look at the drought’s impacts on California’s economy for agricultural, famers, and consumers. Also, this written work will examine the environmental consequences of surface water obtainability, and the areas that have encounter the most devastating affects. For most, this paper will examine the allocations of the governor’s drought declaration, and the strategies used by residents to conserver water.

The drought has a strong impact on the Californian economy as well, a whopping 2.74 billion dollars down that drain and twenty thousand jobs lost. Agriculture the major business hit by the drought. Agriculture uses eighty percent of California’s water, although it has a high water usage California agriculture is very important for the national economy (Ross). Half a million acers of farmland has been dried up due to the drought which means less money in agriculture. The almond industry uses ten percent of California’s water, taking one gallon of water to grow just one almond (Holthaus). Many people think that almonds are wasting water since it takes so much resources to cultivate. On the other hand California produces more than eighty percent

“California’s water future is increasingly uncertain,” says Heather Cooley, in her article California Needs Better Water Management and Pricing Policies (Source A). Agriculture uses 80 percent of California’s constrained water supply and proves to be the primary source of California’s drought. There has been no permanent and largely successful conservation effort to save water. However, with a reformed water management and conservation system, California’s largest industry, agriculture, can thrive while saving water at the same time.

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 is a geographically dry area and water shortage has been a serious issue affecting the state since 2012. California has the highest water consumption compared to all the other states and this partly due to the reason that roughly eighty-percent of the state’s water is used towards agriculture; California being the largest agricultural export distributor in the country (Green). Since of 2012, California has been on a severe four-year drought and has had immediate plans and regulations in order to reduce the impact it has. According to California Water Science Center, “2014 was the third driest year on record” and following that, “2015 [was] the warmest year on record.” The recent record breaking climate has contributed to the drought of California and as a result has had detrimental impacts to the environment. Severe climate during a shortage of water can lead to drastic problems because it can lead to an increase of evapotranspiration and increase of precipitation falling as rain rather than snow. Having precipitation falling more often as rain rather than snow during warm weather can lead to early snowmelt which can unbalance the water supply demands (Causes of Drought). During a drought, occasionally humans are impacted, but more importantly the environment experiences the impacts harshly. Wildlife habitat lost, inadequate food and water

Due to the shut off many farmers did not get the rationing of water they need to plant, so many fields will sit idle this fall and spring. California produces 53% of the nation’s fruits and vegetables. California is also the leading food producer to the world. Some people do not even know California is facing a water crisis, and more of them did not know California is the Nation’s food producer. In a recent survey 76% knew of the water crisis; however, only 56% of them knew that California is the leading food producer. With many of the state’s fields sitting idle this fall and spring it is going to cause the produce prices to increase. It also causes the loss of thousands of jobs. An outraged woman spoke out about the