...The California drought has claimed to be a big epidemic for this state of dreams. This drought alone has been said to put many residents in a panic of what's to become of their beautiful state, but many wonder just how this crisis began in the first place. Residents and other American’s thought of ways just how this possibly terrifying ordeal came to be. Some say it is manmade, others believe it is due to the environment while a few believe it is the way for the big businesses and the rich to gain extra money or extra water. The facts will show us each of their arguments, but the truth is up to the people themselves. The droughts claimed current state can lead anyone to their own beliefs of the matter. For instance, California water usage website gives a list of current events of the presumed drought. California Water Usage says the drought is currently in its fourth year making 2014-2015 the warmest years on record. On April, the 1st the department of water resources stated that the snow packs is now at 5%; which they presume is the...
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...California’s Water Problem Introduction: Water Sources in California In her book entitled Managing Water: Avoiding Crisis in California, the ecologist and historian Dorothy Green describes the complicated and intricate California water system (University of California Press, October 9, 2007). Green’s description and analysis becomes more important to the people of California with every week that passes/ This is because California is now in the fourth year of drought in which no rain, snow, or hail has fallen (“California Drought”, CA.gov. Online at: http://ca.gov/drought/). In her work on the topic, Dorothy Green describes very carefully the system by which the rain, snow, and hail that fall in northern California move downwards in a flow of water that serves the entire state thanks to the power of gravity. The river systems of California include Colorado River and the Sacramento River. These great river systems move the water southwards, (to Los Angeles) and westwards (to San Francisco), respectively. In addition to these well known rivers to the system of rivers in California includes more than thirty rivers including the Klamath, the American, the Tolumne, the Merced, the Yuba, the Kern, the Russian, the Tule, and right here in Los Angeles the Los Angeles River which runs right through the industrial section of downtown Los Angeles in a cement channel : In addition to the river systems of California, Green describes a network of dam release channels, canals...
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...As of August 14, 82 percent of the state of California was in extreme drought. As California entered its fourth year of record-breaking drought, it was met with extremely parched landscapes. CBS News reports reveal that, “According to an aerial survey conducted by the U.S. Forest Service in April, about 12 million trees have died in California forestlands in the past year because of extreme drought.” Dead trees along with plant life in severe condition are seen throughout the Los Padres National Forest. These dead trees add another element to the hazards of the drought by threatening the dry landscape with the possibility of intense wildfires. On January 17, Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the state of California. This...
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...What if California’s drought continued? Not only the people in California would care, but as a whole, the United States would; California is one of the main sources where food grows. I predict that all the animals from fishes to bears would have to migrate to find a new home because of lack of food and fresh water in the area. As the scientists find a solution to the problem, Californians would try their best to continue to spare the water. Furthermore, water would become more expensive. Due to high demand and low supplies, utilities bill will shoot up to prevent water from being wasted. The laws on business restaurant might even change, by saying water can now be sold rather giving out of free; California may become the most expensive place...
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...Attention Shoppers: Fruit and Vegetable Prices Are Rising Grocery shoppers may be faced with changes in produce prices. California is a major producer in the nation’s fruit and vegetable market. The state grows 90% of the lettuce consumed, 94% broccoli, 88% strawberries, 97% plums, etc. Being a large producer for the entire nation requires a lot of assistance from Mother Nature. Unfortunately, California has been dealing with a 3 year long drought that will cause an increase in the prices of production of the fruit and veggie market. A drought is a period of dry weather, especially a long one that is injurious to crops. The market for produce is projected to increase in the upcoming months. A few crops such as lettuce, avocados, and tomatoes could see significant increases. The price of lettuce could go to $2.44 per head, a 62 cent increase. The price for avocados could increase to $1.60 each, a 32 cent raise. And tomatoes could cost up to $2.84 per pound, increasing the price by 45 cents. The following price changes are a brief overview on how the market is going to change. Consumers aren’t hurting as bad as the farmers. Having a job in agriculture in California is difficult to maintain. California could be faced with up to 800,000 acres of land abandoned due to the long standing drought. The vacant land is accumulating money that is being lost because there are no farmers on that land. Unfortunately, even if farmers can’t grow produce they can’t even raise livestock...
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...What would you do if you had 2.2 billion dollars? California has been in a drought for about four years. This means there are citizens and farmers who have less water than they are used to or they do not have water at all. So they are not able to live the life they are used to living. To prevent this, the state should have rules to save the water they do have. California suffered from the drought economically recently. In Source two it is informed that the “drought is expected to cost the states $2.2bn in 2014”. The money the states wasted on the drought could have been used for a better cause. The citizens and the government could have prevented the misuse of the water since they could not have prevented the drought. This drought...
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...California's Water Crisis The state of California has dealt with many problems, one of the most major ones being the drought. California has dealt with droughts for many years now. The current drought isn’t the first,it's one of many. Myself along with many hope it is the last. Do the people in California have what it takes to solve the problem? California gets most of their water supply from the aqueduct,colorado river, sacramento, and from water conservation. The Los Angeles Aqueduct receives water from the Eastern Sierra Nevada. The aqueduct now gets the supply from basins and snow covered mountains within the state. This water comes from far distances just to get to anyones place. The colorado river provides water for the upper part of calfornia. The state gets water from sacramento, the surface water found their is about 85 percent and groundwater is about 15 percent. Thirty to forty percent of ground water is used by the state(aceplumbing). The most significant droughts recorded are from 1929-1934, 1976-1977, 1987-1992, 2011-present (California Department of Water Resources). According to the article the year 2014,overlapping the driest calendar year, ended September 30 the states 3rd driest in 119 years of record. The weather has a lot to do with the drought. The state has been struggling for a very long time. There has been a few ideas to try and fix the issue but those ideas are not enough because obviously the drought keeps...
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...May 2015 Man-Made Water Crisis Over the past several years the state of California has been suffering from a drought that has left behind many farmers in the dust with their fallowed crops. The Central Valley, located in the heart of California, is home to a vast variety of crops that feed the world. The valley has taken the blunt of the hit caused by the recent drought as many farmers have received zero allocations of their contracted water along with many water wells drying up. The lack of water not only has an affect on farmers but anyone else that enjoys the succulent foods that articulate from California’s farms. As the lack of rainfall has had an influence on the current shortage of water, it is not the only factor contributing to it. “In 2009, the department of Fish and Wildlife ordered restrictions on the water run-off, which began the now six-year-old policy of sending billions of gallons of fresh water annually into the Pacific Ocean” (Hill). With California’s extensive need for water, legislation needs to transpire in order to use what precipitation we do receive to be allocated effectively and efficiently. California has been known for many substantial reasons, ranging from the Gold Rush of 1849 to its beautiful coast line that attracts many tourists. One important piece that always seems to be overlooked is the agricultural industry that thrives in the Central Valley. California produces much of the nations food; 99 percent of walnuts, 97 percent of kiwis...
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...Fraser is, “With climbing temperatures... the total area burned has tripled since the 1970s, and the annual number of fires over 10,000 acres is seven times what it was then” (Fraser). This means that as the increasing temperature from global warming and the drought increase so will the fires happening in the southwest. As areas of trees become drier than they have been, there will be a easier chance for them to be set on fire. Also because of the dryer climate the fire will have an easier time in turning in to an wildfire. Doyle Rice stated that, “Droughts are expected to become hotter, more severe, and more frequent” (Rice). What Rice is saying is that in the future droughts are going to be more extreme and hotter. If the temperature gets hotter then there will be an even...
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...In discussion of the crisis of the drought, one controversial issue has been the conflict between water reductions. On the one hand, Justin Sullivan argues that this drought has been a difficult burden since people will argue about who cuts more of their water usage. He states, “People will say, ‘What about the farmers?’ Farmers will say, ‘What about the people who water their lawns”. As we all know outdoor use of water wastes much more water that is not even necessary. Some examples include: watering lawns, washing cars, watering gardens, and cemeteries over watering their grass. Sullivan argued that Mr. Brown stated that California would enforce these water restrictions and have a 25 percent cut in water consumption. People should value the importance of water and it should not be wasted on the contrary, it should be used in only the most necessary things. On the other hand, Damon Winter contends that the 25 percent of water reduction does not apply to farms and they are the ones who consume a great amount of the state’s water. Others like for example Mark Hertsgaard, maintain that the water is priced more cheaply than it should be; therefore, it encourages over consumption which leads people to waste water. My own view of this drought is if we the people don’t make changes and save water the drought will eventually worsen since their won’t be any people cooperating and trying to make a difference. When it comes to the topic of who has the right of using most of the state’s...
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...Exploitation Tim Brown is the current Chairman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and President of Nestle Canada (Tim Brown, 2015). Nestle is a Swiss multinational food and beverage company that is most well-known for their candy and confectioneries, however, they also produce baby formula, coffee, tea, dairy products, ice cream, pet foods, snacks, frozen foods and even bottled water (Andrei, 2015). What many people don’t realize is that Nestle is considered to be one of the most hated companies in the world according to Andrei (2015). The reasons for this are due to allegations of child labor, unethical promotion, manipulating uneducated mothers, pollution, price fixing and mislabeling. The most recent scandal involves nestles involvement in water exploitation globally. This article will focus on the ethical issues surrounding this latest scandal and Tim Browns leadership tactics and styles while dealing with this crisis. For the last four years California has seen record setting droughts. Despite this Nestle has continued to bottle and sell water from their plant in Sacramento California, draining up to 80 million gallons of water a year from Sacramento aquifers (Bacher, 2015). Due to this the bottling plant has become a target for a water coalition that has highlighted predatory water profiteering actions by Nestle in various cities and countries. These coalitions also point out the disastrous results on the environment and the mega profits that are being received at the cost...
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...more tornados, typhoons and hurricanes over the past few years. And the most predominant effect, Increased Drought and Famine, where although much of the impact from climate change and its effects on water is related to the increase in storms and coastal flooding described above, one thing a lot of people don’t realize is that there is an associated change in the distribution of water on the planet overall. Some areas get too much water, but some aren’t getting enough , leading to the increase of drought and famine. Scientist’s studies shows that Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is released into the atmosphere when we burn fossil fuels, oil, coal and gas, which traps heat and acts like a blanket to warm the planet. The more gas we emit into the air, the more heat is trapped, which means the earth gets hotter and hotter. The importance of this is crucial because the hotter the world gets, the faster the world dries up and soon we will be in the worst drought ever. There are many things that needs to be done on a government level to help fix Global Warming like reduce the use of fossil fuels and its carbon dioxide emissions. To me, either idea is great, its just about are we willing to do it and keep it up. California’s drought is another effect situation that’s crucial, due to Global Warming. Heat from the trapped gases causes dryness of the world. Honestly, you can’t fix the drought situation,...
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...Roberts English 1A-Final 22 May 2015 California’s Water Restrictions Throughout the last four years California has been suffering from major drought issues; this year conditions have hit an ultimate low. With that being said, Gov. Jerry Brown has passed mandatory water restrictions to the residents of California. David Siders, writer for the Sacramento Bee, researched if Californians agreed or not with the water restriction mandates. Within his research, he found through a new Field Poll that almost two-thirds of Californians were in support for the ordered water restrictions (Siders). Through this poll, it was learned that both Northern and Southern California residents are agreeing that there is a problem with water consumption in our state and something needs to change (Siders). With the polls showing nine out of ten residents expressing that the conditions are at least somewhat serious, this proves that California understands what is wrong, but are they ready to make the changes (Siders)? As a resident of California, I am completely aware of what our state has ahead of us. If our water consumption does not change, I can see that we will run out of water within the next couple of years. What Gov. Jerry Brown is doing for our state is greatly appreciated and one of the few things we can do that help with our current problem. Though I am aware with our current drought problem, I do not find myself restricting as much water as I should be and I have a feeling that others...
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...With increasing drought levels rising in California we must diminish our water consumption. Growing up you were told not to leave the ware running while you brushed your teeth, but what if there was a better idea. Landscapers have actually developed beautiful water conservative gardens just for this reason. Not all ideas of saving water are hard, new landscaping can actually be quite beautiful. After 4 years of cons3ecutive drought in California, that is now approaching its 5th year, house owners and landscapers have teamed together to provide amazing gardens and landscapes that's soul purpose is to conserve our state's fresh water source. Urban development uses 10% of California's water, if we just changed all developing house's landscapes...
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...This year, California is experiencing its worst drought ever recorded in history. “The drought is so dire that experts are considering adding a fifth level to the four-tiered drought scale” (Hamblin, 3). Due to the constant dry heat during the winter and the rise of global warming, California’s water supplies has become limited. In California, there are three major water sources that they use: snowpack, reservoirs, and groundwater. “This year the snowpack is at a record low, just 5 percent of normal. Reservoirs are doing a bit better, at about two-thirds of normal. Groundwater has made up some of the difference, and is being pumped at a rate thirty-four percent above normal” (Holthaus, 2). As a result of over-pumping, the integrity of the...
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