California's Drought - Research Paper Example

California`s Drought In summer 2014 a great part of California`s state was under the most serious level of drought since the beginning of the 1990s. Having acknowledged that the problem of drought is persistent in the state the authorities started issuing general regular drought reports several years ago. As indicated by the U.S. Drought Monitor report, in July of 2014 more than a half of California was in the state of "extraordinary" drought- the highest point on a five-level scale. The year 2014 was the first year when this territory has seen such extraordinary level of drought, as a larger part of a land undergone serious harm due to drought, and the indicators became more and more - "extreme" and "exceptional." Some meteorological stations, such as Central Valley, marked this period the driest in history of observations. The drought in California resulted in serious changes of the water supply– the state has depleted its reservoirs in the quantity equal to the annual; and dampness in California`s topsoil and subsoil has about been exhausted. Nevertheless, scientists claim that for California climate this is not a complete novelty, and serious droughts have always been a part of the state history. Gradual climate changes on the planet, lack of precipitation, and the geographical position of the state have become the major causes of California`s droughts. That is why the government must get ready to the return of severe droughts and use new technologies to prevent such a serious harm for the territory. The effect of California`s drought was devastating for agriculture and resulted in serious economic and social problems. It is estimated that the net revenue loss connected with the drought for agriculture was about 3%, while the total cost in dollars equaled $2.2 billion. Moreover, the drought also had effect on the level of unemployment in a state and resulted in loss of more than 17.000 working places with significant part of them being in farming sector. Agriculture was hit the most nevertheless: around 5% of irrigated land was considered out of production at the same time with the loss of $800 million of crop revenue. The livestock losses were also impressive: more than $203 million was calculated in revenue loss. Thus, serious economic consequences have become the result of poor planning and the absence of preliminary measures despite the history of droughts (Drought Impact Study, 2014). To understand the reason of such a disastrous situation it is necessary to find out the mechanism that naturally helps to supply the land with relevant amount of water. The scientists concluded that the absence of precipitation during spring seasons turned out to be the major cause of the drought in the state not only in 2014 but in the previous years as well. The state is mostly dependable on precipitation in its water supply of the mountains; however, in this very year the level of the precipitation of Sierra Nevada was extremely low, and the snowpack was unable to provide the land with a necessary quantity of water. Additionally, for the last five years the level of precipitation was much lower compared to the previous years. Moreover, the weather this year was unpredictable- the expected snow was absent while the rain that fell managed to destroy the supply of snow in the mountains. So California`s drought was a result of serious climate change but the purpose of my work is to prove that such change is quite typical for this territory as the land is situated in such a climate zone (California-Nevada Climate Application Program, 2014). Another reason of California`s drought is unique geographical location in which climate changes are regular. And water shortage has always been a part of the state history, and each such event has caused its special difficulties. Many important lessons were learnt out of these difficulties, and as the current 2014 draught became such a serious issue it is high time to refer to the history and observe California`s climate fluctuations. The current dry season, which keeps on the history of impressive drought records in California, impacted the number of materials on the similar drought of 1976-1977. Obviously, there are some important common issues between our current situation and the desperate episode 37 years ago. According to the experts the main reason of such situation is that the level of precipitation in California has always been unpredictable. Taking into account this information, it is absolutely wrong to think of this state in terms of climate stability and regularity. Most often conclusions about climate are made during observations and that is completely erroneous. For example, in a faraway 1841 the Sacramento Valley was claimed to be absolutely unsuitable for agriculture due to the scarcity of necessary level of dampness, however, three years later after two years of drought the land has turned into “an inland sea”. In the beginning of the century when agriculture only started to develop on this territory farmers performed irrigation only with the help of groundwater and nearby natural water resources. Scarcity of water in 1924 pushed workers to build more developed irrigation systems and invest in bonds that would give a possibility to store and transport water in large quantity. In several decades new droughts followed in 1928-1935, and the necessity to build more storages turned from a vague idea into a serious and urgent measure to be implemented. Thus, the government project called Central Valley Project of canals, pumps, and aqueducts appeared. It was meant to supply the Valley with water in especially dry seasons. After the 1920s the droughts were regular, and in the following 1947-1950 and 1959-1960 it became clear that the decision to create numerous storages was absolutely justified. Now this system provides Central Valley with water and even helps to supply Los Angeles. However, one of the most serious and devastating events in the history of the state was in the 1976-1977 when a severe drought hit the territory. The end of the 1976 was not rich in precipitation, and consisted of 65 % of the norm. Reservoirs were almost empty, and there was not enough snowpack in the mountains to calculate on it as a means of water supply (Kotin & Marion, 2014). The year 1977 was even more drastic as 58 counties of California were in the state of emergency. At the time farming faced the most serious consequences: State Water Project reduced its entitlements by 60 percent and the Central Valley project reduced its- by 75 percent. At the same time a number of important sources of water-rivers and minor flows became dry. Instead of empowering all the more serious water ventures (voters notably intervened an activity to sponsor a construction of a Peripheral Canal in 1982), the 1977 drought launched the initiative of widespread water conservation. In the result urban dwellers were prone to keep up from performing mundane tasks such as cleaning the houses regularly, washing the car, watering gardens, and it brought some good results to overall water preservation. However, today the population in those regions grew almost twice, and such water sustenance is hardly possible. Agrarian enterprises, which represent approximately 75 percent of water utilization in California, have likewise progressively sought for water-saving advancements in the years since the 1977 drought. Drip watering system, which initially was launched in California around 1970, is currently a normal practice in numerous ranges and agricultural practices. Multiple different innovations and practices that are aimed to preserve both finances and water are implemented and governed by local and country authorities (Kotin & Marion, 2014). Nevertheless, 1977 was not the last date of severe droughts, as in 2007-2009 California experienced more climate fluctuations, however, they were relatively mild compared to the present. That year brought another issue to attention- unsustainable groundwater use. Consequently, local government had to accept certain laws which require serious monitoring of groundwater utilization and setting achievable groundwater usage conservation aims (Kotin & Marion, 2014). Global warming has also affected the climate of California, however, the changes are still on the level when they are hardly noticeable. However, scientists connect lack of precipitation in 2013 with planetary trends as in many mountain regions of the world there was a similar situation. But in a few decades the climate changes will be noticed and Californian farmers will have to look for new lands and new products to adapt to unpredictable changes in weather and serious lack of groundwater (California-Nevada Climate Application Program). Today authorities, ecologists, and farmers in particular consider that it is only the beginning of serious measures implementing in the sphere of effective water conservation and management. Nevertheless, to influence the situation seriously it is necessary to make additional steps which include water recycling, water preservation in grounds, runoff prevention measurements and others. California needs urgent and serious measures and relying on the past experience is futile because each new drought brings new challenges while the technology also continues to develop. Therefore, it is a high time to use all possible innovations to make the state independent from climate fluctuation and the quantity of water. Some activists claim that California will inevitably experience difficulties with water due to its unique historical position and thus rely on agriculture in this is futile especially with the growing seriousness of greenhouse effect problem. It is evident that the world cannot stop a climate change that is why instead of trying to postpone it artificially, countries have to search for the new lands of development. So the drought in California in 2014 was perceived as a serious natural disaster leaving agrarian sector in a very bad condition. Though it was not predicted the level of drought was perceived as “exceptional” which resulted in serious depletion of water supplies. The reason of such serious catastrophe was extraordinary dry season leading to low precipitation in the mountains and inability of usual snowpack to provide the territory with the necessary amount of water ad depletion of groundwater. However, geographical position of the state along with constant climate changes also played an important role. As a result California`s financial state has experienced serious losses such as high unemployment in agrarian sector, serious losses in crop and irrigated lands. Today local as well as state government pays close attention to the situation in California directing resources to providing agricultural sector of California with necessary amount of water. Nevertheless, some experts claim that these measures are not enough as the climate in the state is unpredictable and taking into account global climate changes California needs to adapt to such changes and implement a new policy in agriculture. To influence the situation seriously it is necessary to make additional steps which include water recycling, water preservation in grounds, runoff prevention measurements and others. References California-Nevada Climate Application Program. (2014). A NOAA Regional Integrated Science and Assessment Program. Retrieved from: http://www.drought.gov/media/images/CNAP-Drought-Newsletter-Aug-2014.pdf Drought impact study: California agriculture faces greatest water loss ever seen (2014).UC Davis News. Retrieved from: http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=10978 Kotin, A., & Marion, B. (2014). A History of Drought in California: Learning From the Past, Looking to the Future, Civil Eats. Retrieved from: http://civileats.com/2014/02/05/a-history-of-drought-in-california-learning-from-the-past-looking-to-the-future/# Read More