Essay On California Drought

It’s well noted that the current drought in California has been recorded as the driest period in the state's rainfall history. Farmers have been losing their jobs because their crops wont grow due to the lack of rainwater in California. This drought means that the farmers can’t rely on surface water, so the farmers that haven’t lost their jobs are resorting to their last option, drilling deeper underground for more water sources. Two decades ago wells were usually about a couple hundred feet, but in the modern day wells have come to be considerably deeper. Farmers are now drilling up to two thousand feet underground for more water. The state of California doesn’t restrict the amount of groundwater usage for farms yet, so farmers found this …show more content…
And although farmers found drilling a quick way to solve this problem, they weren’t seeing the overall picture of how it could effect the environment. Most farms are taking so much of the water below them that many questions arise for their land and the neighboring land. When drilling down two thousand feet and draining all of the water out of the ground, what will eventually happen to the ground above it? It could potentially create uneven surfaces and cause further problems due to the uneven grounds. Adding on to that, there is much more energy being used to get water from underground and with all of these deeper wells being drilled comes higher costs for the farm owners. Not only that, but there is a huge waiting list for drillers to dig deeper wells due to the lack of contractors and the lack of equipment to be used. Not only that, but the supplies of groundwater are also diminishing way faster than they can be replenished. With that being said the cost for creating wells will most likely skyrocket. Farmers will just need to keep digging deeper and wells will continue getting more expensive. It’s a cycle that will continue as long as this drought