Is Drought In California Over?

California has been suffering from a prolonged drought for the past 5 years. The state of California was in a drought emergency for a long time and heavy restrictions have been placed under water usage to reduce the impact of the drought on daily life. A drought is defined as a period of drier than normal conditions with less than average rainfall. It is wise to watch water consumption during times of drought because it plays a pivotal role between running out of water and rationing it well enough to get by the drought period. When California was hit with the drought initially, it was expected that the economy would dip because of it. Typically, droughts can hold back agriculture because of the lack of water. However, even with some rural areas getting water delivered to, agriculture had record revenue in 2012-2014. The drought went as far as to the state of California limiting when people could water their lawns. It went to the extent in which California natives began to swap their plants for more drought resistant ones.  Luckily, it seems like California is almost out of the woods. The state of emergency is going to be lifted because due to the recent storms, big reservoirs began to fill again.

Although California is about to be freed from the grips of the drought, it can come back at any time. They still have to be cautious about how they use their water. The ban on wasteful water usage is still in play such as watering your yard when it is raining or hosing down your driveway. Every major drought has been a learning point for California and every state and country should take note from it. Water is an extremely important natural resource and we can’t be using it so wastefully. Conservative use of water should be the new way of life and it is a relief that some states are taking it up a notch to enforce that. Governor Jerry Brown said it himself “Conservation must remain a way of life”. If we can continue living that way, constantly reducing waste, the effects of droughts can be dramatically reduced.

Sources:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-brown-drought-20170407-story.html (Bettina Boxall)