California Governor Jerry Brown is finally about to proclaim the obvious, that California is in a severe drought. A California drought declaration would speed up water transfers, suspend regulations, and provide funding, especially if the federal government declares it too.
The City of Sacramento, one of the worst-hit areas, says their American River watershed is in “crisis mode” and has ordered mandatory 20% cuts in water usage.
As the map shows, reservoirs in California are historically low, except for Pyramid and Castaic near LA.
“We’ve had aquifers dry up. I was approached by a constituent telling me that his well dried up and he’s got a large home in a rural area that’s just without water,” [a Santa Clara County Supervisor] said.
The drier it gets, the more water is pumped from wells, which of course drops water levels even more.