California is experiencing an epic drought. Paul Rogers reports for the San Jose Mercury News that some communities could actually run out of water in the next few months if the Golden State doesn’t get some rain:
In some communities, wells are running dry. In others, reservoirs are nearly empty. Some have long-running problems that predate the drought.
The water systems, all in rural areas, serve from 39 to 11,000 residents. They range from the tiny Lompico County Water District in Santa Cruz County to districts that serve the cities of Healdsburg and Cloverdale in Sonoma County.
And it could get a lot worse.
“As the drought goes on, there will be more that probably show up on the list,” said Dave Mazzera, acting drinking-water division chief for the state Department of Public Health.
Most of the affected water districts have so few customers that they can’t charge enough money to pay for backup water supplies or repair failing equipment, leaving them more vulnerable to drought than large urban areas.
California accounts for almost 12 percent of the nation’s agricultural production. As the PBSNewsHour put it, the dry spell “could mean bad news at the grocery store.”
Image: NASA's Earth Observatory
Full article Two Images Tell the Tale of California's Terrifying Drought | Blog, News & Notes | BillMoyers.com.
Note: At i09, Annalee Newitz posted two satellite images, inclulding the one above. This one was taken last week and shows how the valley areas are brown instead of green.
