California drought crisis
California is entering the fourth year of a record-breaking drought creating an extremely parched landscape. Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought State of Emergency in January 2015 and imposed strict conservation measures statewide.
In this photo, a tractor collects golf balls on a driving range in the Palm Springs area, California, April 13, 2015.
The average daily water usage per person in Palm Springs is 201 gallons, more than double California average. Communities where residential customers use more than 165 gallons of water per person per day would have to cut back by 35 percent.
California's Drought
An aerial view overlooking an estate with a green lawn in San Diego, April 4, 2015. In the midst of the ongoing California drought crisis, officials are asking residents not to waste the state's severely diminished water resources on landscaping or swimming pools. Though the state has only issued eight $100 fines and two $200 fines to water wasters up until this point, Gov. Jerry Brown is calling for legislators to enforce fines of up to $10,000 for residents and businesses that waste the most water, as California cities struggle to meet mandatory conservation targets.
California's Drought - almonds
A field of dead almond trees is seen in Coalinga in the Central Valley, California, May 6, 2015.
Almonds, a major component of farming in California, use up some 10 percent of the state's water reserves according to some estimates. California ranks as the top farm state by annual value of agricultural products, most of which are produced in the Central Valley, the vast, fertile region stretching 450 miles (720 km) north-sound from Redding to Bakersfield. California water regulators on Tuesday adopted the state's first rules for mandatory cutbacks in urban water use as the region's catastrophic drought enters its fourth year.
California's Drought
Dead and dying trees are seen in a forest stressed by historic drought conditions in Los Padres National Forest near Frazier Park, California, May 7, 2015. 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. The dead trees add to the flammability of a drying landscape that is increasingly threatened by large, intense wildfires.
California's Drought
A dead lawn is seen next to an artificial lawn in San Francisco, July 15, 2014.
California water regulators imposed sweeping and unprecedented restrictions on residents' use of water, May 5, 2015.
With those regulations, the State Water Resources Control Board urged Californians to just let their lawns die; classifying any water used for landscaping, an improper waste of the state's severely diminishes resources.
California's Drought
Homes with boathouses built around an artificial lake are seen in Indio, California, April 13, 2015.
California's cities and towns would be required to cut their water usage by up to 35 percent or face steep fines under proposed new rules, the state's first-ever mandatory cutbacks in urban water use as the state enters its fourth year of severe drought.
California's Drought
Houseboats float in the drought-lowered waters of Oroville Lake near Oroville, California, Oct 30, 2014.
California's Drought
In this before-and-after composite image, (Top) The Enterprise Bridge passes over full water levels at a section of Lake Oroville in Oroville, California, July 20, 2011.
The severe drought has impacted rivers, lakes and snowpacks.
California's Drought
Construction workers Alex Hernandez (R) and Raul Buenrostro (L) begin demolition of a swimming pool at an apartment complex in Hayward, California, April 8, 2015.
As California enters its fourth year of severe drought, some California residents are opting to have their home swimming pools removed as they face a mandatory 25 percent reduction in water use.
California's Drought
A sign for the 'Brown is the New Green' campaign is posted on dead grass on April 22, 2015 in San Francisco, California. As California enters its fourth year of severe drought, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has launched the 'Brown is the New Green' campaign that encourages to residents to save water and let their lawns go brown.
California's Drought
Dry earth is seen between rows of grapevines in Napa, California, April 9, 2015.
A record-low rainfall is taking a toll on the grape crops in the winemaking region.
California's Drought
Carlos Salguero, of the Onelawn landscaping company, installs a section of artificial lawn at a home in Burlingame, California, April 3, 2015.
Artificial lawns have emerged as a water saving alternative to traditional lawns for Californians who are facing a mandatory reduction in water use.
California's Drought
A section of Lake Oroville is seen nearly dry in Oroville, California, August 19, 2014.
A combination of record high temperatures and sparse rainfall during California's four-year drought have produced the worst conditions in 1,200 years, according to a study accepted for publication by the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
California's Drought
A sign from wetter times warns people not to dive from a bridge over the Kern River, which has been dried up by water diversion projects and little rain, on February 4, 2014 in Bakersfield, California.
California's Drought
Leaflets explaining new water rules are seen in the car of Enrique Silva, Department of Water and Power (DWP) Water Conservation Response Unit supervisor, as he patrols the streets looking for people wasting water during the drought in Los Angeles, California April 17, 2015. California's cities and towns would be required to cut their water usage by up to 35 percent or face steep fines under proposed new rules, the state's first-ever mandatory cutbacks in urban water use as the state enters its fourth year of severe drought. Communities where residential customers use more than 165 gallons of water per person per day would have to cut back by 35 percent.
California's Drought
Marina owner Mitzi Richards carries her granddaughter as they walk on their boat dock at the dried up lake bed of Huntington Lake, September 23, 2014.
The state's drought affected Central Valley, is the considered the richest food-producing region in the world, where much of America's fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables being grown there.
California's Drought
Irrigation water runs along the dried-up ditch between the rice farms to provide water for the rice fields in Richvale, California, May 1, 2014.
When a federal agency announced it would not release water for most Central Valley farms it forcing farmers to continue to scramble for other sources or leave fields unplanted.
California's Drought
A snowboarder threads his way through patches of dirt at Squaw Valley Ski Resort, in Olympic Valley, California, March 21, 2015.
Many Tahoe-area ski resorts closed early due to low snowfall as California's historic drought continues.
California's Drought
A pair of NASA images illustrate the loss of snowpack between January 2013 (right) and January 2014 (left).
California's Drought
A car sits in dried and cracked earth of what was the bottom of the Almaden Reservoir in San Jose, California, January 28, 2014.
As bad as the drought in California and the Southwest was last year and in the Midwest a couple years ago, scientists say far worse historic decades-long dry spells are coming. "Unprecedented drought conditions" _ the worst in more than 1,000 years _ are likely to come to the Southwest and Central Plains near the end of this century and stick around because of global warming, according to a new study in the journal Science.
California's Drought
A sprinkler runs and water flows down a driveway on a mandatory "no watering" day in Sacramento, California, August 15, 2014.
California's Drought
A crow perches on a dead tree in Palmdale, California, April 7, 2015.
California's Drought
People play golf on a course in La Quinta, California April 13, 2015.
California's cities and towns would be required to cut their water usage by up to 35 percent or face steep fines under proposed new rules, the state's first-ever mandatory cutbacks in urban water use as the state enters its fourth year of severe drought.
California's Drought
City of Sacramento water conservation representative Steven Upton photographs a Sacramento, California home that has evidence of watering on a mandatory "no watering" day, August 15, 2014.
Penalties for illegal watering in Sacramento range from a warning for the first violation to a $1000 fine for the fourth violation. Water regulators in California approved tough new conservation measures last month to limit outdoor water use.
California's Drought
Houseboats are dwarfed by the steep banks of Shasta Lake at Bridge Bay Resort in Redding, California.
On April 1, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown and top lawmakers announced a $1 billion emergency legislative package to deal with the state's devastating multi-year drought. The state is entering the fourth year of record-breaking drought that has prompted officials to sharply reduce water supplies to farmers and impose strict conservation measures statewide.
California's Drought
Underweight cattle are held for auction at Cattlemen's Livestock Auction in Galt, California, February 12, 2014. California's drought has led many ranchers to sell their cattle, often to buyers further east, as grazing land becomes barren and hay becomes scarce and expensive.
California's Drought
Pastor Frankie Olmedo, 56, (L) who volunteers four hours a day to hand out water, hands bottles to Luis Bocanegra, 35, in Porterville, California, October 14, 2014.
California's Drought
Green Canary worker Samuel Bucio sprays green water-based paint on a partially dead lawn at the Almaden Valley Athletic Club in San Jose, California, July 21, 2014.
As the severe California drought continues to worsen, home owners and businesses looking to conserve water are letting lawns die off and are having them painted to look green. The paint lasts up to 90 days on dormant lawns and will not wash off.
California's Drought
Angelica Gallegos, 37, whose well has run dry, chops vegetables as she stands next to her sink where she washes dishes with bottled water in Porterville, California, October 14, 2014.
California's Drought
A sign posted roadside warns passing motorists of the Water Conservation Alert Status on April 8, 2015 in La Canada Flintridge, California at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in northern Los Angeles County.
The area is among the worst offenders in California in an effort to save water by posting the highest water use per capita in Los Angeles County. La Canada Flintridge joins other better known high-water use southern California communities like Beverly Hills and Newport Beach in possibly facing a 35% cut in water use from what it used in 2013 under a proposal from the state's Water Resources Control Board as California deals with its fourth year of drought amid record low snows in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
California's Drought
The Beverly Hills lily pond with the city's famous sign is seen during a severe drought in Beverly Hills, California, April 9, 2015. On average wealthier neighborhoods like Beverly Hills consume three times more water than less affluent ones, according to the study by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
California's Drought
Hereford cattle roam the dirt-brown fields of Nathan Carver's ranch which his family has owned for five generations on the outskirts of Delano, in California's Central Valley, February 3, 2014.
Normally, at this time of the year, the fields would be covered in lush green grass, but the western U.S. states' worst drought in decades has reduced the land to a parched moonscape, leaving the 55-year-old father-of-four praying for rain.
While Carver remembers tales his grandparents told of the Dust Bowl years in the 1930's, this is as bad as he has ever seen it in his lifetime, he said.
California's Drought
Aerial view overlooking landscaping in San Diego, California, April 4, 2015.
Gov. Jerry Brown demanded a 25 percent cut in urban water usage due to a severe drought affecting much of California and the West. Everything from campuses, golf courses and other industrial and recreational facilities, as well as personal, home usage are specifically targeted.
California's Drought
A fountain outside City Hall is shut down due to the drought, in downtown Los Angeles, California, January 6, 2015.
California's Drought
Dan Green fills buckets with recycled water at the Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) residential recycled water fill station in Pleasanton, California, April 8, 2015.
As California enters its fourth year of severe drought, the DSRSD is allowing residents to pick up free recycled water to be used to water trees, gardens, and lawns.
California's Drought
Abigail Beltran, 6, whose family's well has run dry, climbs on a water storage tank in her front yard in Porterville, Californiac October 14, 2014.
In one of the towns hardest hit by California's drought, the only way some residents can get water to flush the toilet is to drive to the fire station, hand-pump water into barrels and take it back home. The state's drought comes into sharp focus in Tulare County, the dairy and citrus heart of the state's vast agricultural belt, where more than 500 wells have dried up.
California's Drought
A dry dock is seen from an area that was previously underwater at Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara, California, March 27, 2015.
California's Drought
Fingerling Chinook salmon are dumped into a holding pen as they are transfered from a truck into the Sacramento River in Rio Vista, California, March 25, 2014.
Low water levels on the Sacramento River forced wildlife officials to truck more than 400,000 fingerling Chinook salmon from the Coleman National Fish Hatchery in Anderson to the Sacramento River in Rio Vista, a nearly 300 mile journey. The fish usually make the trip on their own but would risk be targets of predator fish.
California's Drought
Water and mud blow out of the top of a drill, as Diamond Well Drillers drill to deepen the Brady family well in Woodland, California, August 20, 2014.
The Bradys' home well went dry almost two months ago and Theresa Brady called 65 well drillers before finding one available to deepen their well.
California's Drought
A surfer catches a wave at Tressles beach as a CH 53 Super Stallion Marine helicopter scoops water from the ocean to fight the Talega Fire on nearby Camp Pendleton near San Clemente, California, May 16, 2014.
The state's continuing drought has led to an increase in the number and intensity of wildfires.
California's Drought
As lakes recede, they reveal artifacts lost to the waters years ago.
This undated photo provided by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department shows several items, including a handgun and badge of a federal agent, found in a backpack in shallow water by a man fishing at Castaic Lake in northern Los Angeles County.
California's Drought
A man stands in an empty public swimming pool in Burbank, Los Angeles, California, March 19, 2015.
California's Drought
Water lines are visible in a nearly dry section of Lake McClure in Coulterville, California, March 24, 2015.
More than 3,000 residents in the Sierra Nevada foothill community of Lake Don Pedro who rely on water from Lake McCLure could run out of water in the near future if the severe drought continues. Lake McClure is currently at 7 percent of its normal capacity and residents are under mandatory 50 percent water use restrictions.
California's Drought
Shells are seen on a former lake bed from where the water receded at Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara, California, March 27, 2015.
California's Drought
A digital traffic sign usually used for commuter travel information informs travellers southbound on Interstate highway 5 to conserve water as they pass through Del Mar, California, September 10, 2014.
California's Drought
A U.S. Marine watches as an Osprey helicopter lands in Los Banos, California, February 14, 2014.
U.S. President Barack Obama arrived on Marine 1 to address the drought situation.
California's Drought
A warning buoy sits on the dry, cracked bed of Lake Mendocino near Ukiah, California.
California's Drought
A worker harvests cantaloupes on a farm in Firebaugh, California, August 22, 2014.
As the severe California drought continues, Central California farming communites are struggling to survive with an unemployment rate nearing 40 percent in the towns of Mendota and Firebaugh.
With limited supplies of water available to water crops, farmers are leaving acres of farmland unplanted and are having to lay off or reduce the hours of laborers.
California's Drought
A woman stands beside the stump of a fallen giant Sequoia tree at the Sequoia National Park which scientists claim are under threat from a diminishing snowpack and rising temperatures as a severe drought continues to affect California.
California's Drought
Low water levels are visible at the Stevens Creek Reservoir in Cupertino, California, January 30, 2014.
California's Drought
A drought affected area on the outskirts of San Francisco, July 23, 2014.
California's Drought
People evacuate from their homes as a wildfire driven by fierce Santa Ana winds closes in on them in Rancho Cucamonga, California, April 30, 2014.
The wind-driven brush fire burning out of control in drought-parched Southern California wildland forced the evacuation of about 1,000 residents north of the town of Rancho Cucamonga, officials said.
California's Drought
A visitor walks near the receding waters at Folsom Lake, which is 17 percent of its capacity, in Folsom, California, January 22, 2014.
California's Drought
Water flows down Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfall in North America in the Sierra Nevada mountain range at Yosemite National Park March 25, 2015 in California, where the snowpack in the mountain range hit an unprecedented low this week.
Falling below historic lows of 2014 and 1977 for the state's driest winter in sixty-five years of record keeping. It is the melt from the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain range snowpacks from which California gets its water, but snowpack measurements due to be reported are expected to be the lowest on record leaving the parched 'Golden State' in its fourth year of drought.
California's Drought
Macario Beltran, 41, (C) a mechanic whose family's well has run dry, fills containers in his truck with water from the fire station, with his daughters Abigail, 6, (L) and Denika, 10, in Porterville, California October 14, 2014.
In one of the towns hardest hit by California's drought, the only way some residents can get water to flush the toilet is to drive to the fire station, hand-pump water into barrels and take it back home. The state's drought comes into sharp focus in Tulare County, the dairy and citrus heart of the state's vast agricultural belt, where more than 500 wells have dried up.
California's Drought
Mark and Ellen Fontaine stand beside water tanks at their home in Philo, California, February 25, 2014.
As drought conditions continue in Northern California, the couple now relies on water deliveries by truck to supply their home.
California's Drought
In this 3-D composite image map of the Sierra snowpack released by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows the deficit in the total volume of water contained within the Tuolumne River Basin snowpack from April 7, 2014 to March 25, 2015.
California's Drought
A sign advising to pray for rain hangs above an exhibit area at the 47th Annual World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, February 12, 2014.