The California Drought and How it Affects You

The California Drought and How it Affects You

 

Dead orchards caused by the lack of water

 

Yesterday my wife had to make a quick trip to Southern California to help her aunt who is in her late 80’s. Over the years, she has made this trip many times and is familiar with the central valley area. She called me after arriving and said that she was shocked at how dry the country was and how few crops were being grown because of the drought.

With this being the third consecutive year of drought, the water reserves both federal and state are almost gone and the farmer’s only possible source is wells. The water levels of the wells are dropping to levels that have never been seen before. Who knows how much longer they will last.

Fergus Morrissey, a water engineer from the Orange Cove Irrigation District, said the following about the drought. “Unlike a (Hurricane) Katrina, which kind of happens all at once, a drought is a slow moving disaster and you almost don’t recognize what damage it’s going to do until you’re far into it and it’s already passed. So it’s a very slow, slow sort of death,”.

Dry lake beds

 

Poor government decisions have magnified the effects of the drought. In dry Southern California, they still watering their lawns and living life as always and some of the cities are still threatening to fine people for not watering their lawns. Large amounts of water are being dumped into the Pacific Ocean in order to save a small 3-inch fish as a result of court orders.

California’s San Joaquin Valley provides the majority of fruits and vegetables for the entire nation. California produces 80 percent of the world’s almonds and is a major producer of many other crops including strawberries, walnuts, celery, leaf lettuce, spinach and cattle. Now I know that some of you are saying this doesn’t affect me. However, in reality it will affect almost everybody in the United States.

Food prices are already being affected and will continue to increase. More food has to be imported from third world countries. In some cases, this food is not of the same quality and may have been grown using chemicals that are not good for you.

Now whether or not this is being done as part of a plan to destroy this country as some claim, it will cause great damage to our economy. I strongly suggest that you do what you can to improve your food storage now. If this drought lasts one more year, it will be very devastating financially.
Howard
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