Drought Response Dooms State

Lawns in front of houses used to be bright green, and people used to take relaxing baths after long days of work or school.

But now California is facing a terrible drought, and everything has changed.

We are in some serious trouble.

According to San Jose Mercury News, State Governor Jerry Brown said, “The drought is serious. We have to take serious measures to respond.”

The drought is increasing the risk of fires. When I read the news I hear about the horrendous fires taking place in Yosemite. It really concerns me that California is so dry.

The drought has become extreme and it is an emergency in California.

People need to save water as best they can. You’d think that with the severity of this drought people would want to take action and conserve. Sadly, that is not the case.

Various water parks have stayed open during the drought.

Sure, water parks may reuse water, but the water must come from somewhere in the first place. According to an article written by Lauren Markham for The New Yorker about Raging Waters, California’s largest water park, “When pumped to full capacity, as it is during the summer months, the park uses approximately a million gallons of water, which cycle through its lazy river and slides in an endless, filtered churn”.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “The average American family uses 320 gallons of water per day, about 30 percent of which is devoted to outdoor uses. More than half of that outdoor water is used for watering lawns and gardens. Nationwide, landscape irrigation is estimated to account for nearly one-third of all residential water use, totaling nearly 9 billion gallons per day.” 

People are wasting the little water we have. There are several ways that people can reuse water and still keep their gardens running if they really desire to do so. For example, while waiting for the water in the shower to heat up, put a watering bucket under the flow of water to fill up with the cold water that can then be used to water plants. Or maybe when someone is washing the dishes, don’t keep the water running the whole time. Only use water when you’re rinsing the soap off of the dish. There are so many easy and simply ways to preserve water and it’s so aggravating that people ignore them. 

At this point, a rainy winter would be a welcome miracle.  Unfortunately, unless people start conserving more aggressively, not even a miracle will get us out of this mess alive.