The California Drought

The California Drought has become increasingly costly to our future and the state of our planet. California is now entering its sixth year of the drought and is facing the worst drought we have seen in 1,200 years. Some contributing factors are the vast water use in agricultural practices, and the weak and unenforced water management policies. Although this drought we face is large and somewhat daunting, there is room for improvements and paths to solutions if we work together in efforts to save our environment.
With California producing half of the fruits and vegetables in this country, eighty percent of the water goes to this agricultural production. Only 4 percent of produce like broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, almonds, and strawberries, are water
Most of the water being used is to grow crops that will fatten up our livestock. It also takes a large amount of water to keep these animals hydrated. For example, a case done by North Dakota State University indicated that cows drink up to 23 gallons of water a day when humans drink up to only 4 gallons. We also have to account for the water that goes into the cleanliness of agriculture production like washing excretion and bacteria off of the cement floors, and cleaning blood and grease from the butchering equipment.
Another large contributor to the California drought, is the weakness of our water management laws. Yes there have been regulations put in place as the drought has progressed, but are they enough? When the drought was first announced it did not come with any urgent efforts. According to Peter Gleick, a leading scientist of global water and climate issues, there were no cutbacks immediately put into place and there weren’t any intensive information given as to how people could save water. Some of the farmers in California are given “Senior Water
Rights” which mean that they don’t need to take any actions to conserve water and reduce