Dear MEL Topic Readers,
California is in a water crisis, yet usage is way up.
California is the most populous state in the US with a population of around 40 million. Its economy is so large that should it be a country, it would be the fifth-largest economy in the world. This year, California is facing the worst drought ever. While there are 1,500 lakes and reservoirs in the state that store surface water, the state’s groundwater storage capacity is more than 10 times that of all its surface waterways. Most of California’s precipitation falls as snow in the northern part of the state during the winter. But because of global warming, the precipitation has been falling in recent years. As a result, the state’s both surface water and groundwater levels fell to the critical levels. The state and local governments have been urging the residents to conserve water usage, but many argue that the more conservation efforts need to be made by large water users like agriculture and fracking, the injection of a fluid at high pressure into an underground rock formation to allow trapped gas or crude oil to flow through a pipe to a wellhead at the surface. Those who depend on surface water are going to be asked to cut more water usage. Those who rely on groundwater are afraid of depleting it as more is being pumped to compensate for the disappearing surface water. How will California survive under water pressure?
Enjoy reading the article and learning about California’s management of its water crisis.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/15/us/california-water-usage-increase-drought-climate/index.html
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