California is currently dealing with what could be its worst drought in 500 years, and the effects could be devastating.
1. Gov. Jerry Brown has officially declared the current drought a State of Emergency, and is encouraging people to reduce their water use by 20% this year.
2. In order to conserve water, officials announced they wouldn't be sending reservoir water to agencies across the state this spring.
3. Some rural communities are in danger of losing their water supply within 120 days.
4. Rainfall has dramatically decreased over the past year.
5. Because of dry weather, firefighters responded to over 400 fires this past January.
6. Cal Fire has hired 125 more firefighters to deal with the increasing number of fires.
7. Bay Area reservoirs are drying up at alarming rates.
8. Reservoir storage is at record lows.
9. With some reservoirs filled to only 18 percent capacity, once covered shores are now exposed.
10. Without precipitation to flush out toxicity, L.A.'s air quality is worsening.
11. California could lose $5 billion in agricultural profit this year.
12. Many agriculture-based towns are bracing for large spikes in unemployment.
13. Farmers across the state are projected to leave up to 500,000 acres of farmland unplanted.
14. Ranchers are selling cattle due to limited resources and cost of feeding them.
15. Many places have banned fishing in an effort to protect salmon and trout from becoming endangered.
16. Medicinal marijuana farmers may soon encounter problems since each plant requires six gallons of water per day.
17. In order to preserve water, some cities are laying down artificial grass.
