California declares state of emergency

California Drought
California Declares State Of Emergency over Drought

For the first time in California history, a state of emergency has been declared over water. Because of a severe water shortage, the state will no longer release water to the different distributors. Water supplies will be cutback to 25 million customers; this has never been seen before in US history. Because of the California drought, reservoirs have dropped so low it has exposed the junk and garbage that was left behind when the valleys were first flooded. At the Lake Orville reservoir the water supply dropped 2 feet in one month alone.

Up to 750,000 acres of farmland are affected. Many are major citrus fruit producers. One citrus grower explained, “If the citrus trees are not kept alive, trees that are in their prime that took 30 years to grow will die.” This impact will ripple around the world.


Water authorities have stated that even if the state got heavy rain every other day until May, it would still not be enough. This environmental disaster is the second one to be declared this month involving water resources. In West Virginia a third of the state has water contaminated with 2 chemicals used to treat coal. The pollution was the result of a leaking storage tank and could reach the water supply of Cincinnati, OH within weeks. Water issues have plagued many regions in the US, especially in the South which has been battling a three state war in court for the last 20 years over water usage from the Chattahoochee River which supplies the metro Atlanta region.

Californians will get water from other sources but they will get less of it and pay more.


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