Why The California Drought Is Affecting Everyone'

Since 2012 the drought has infected California with the most intense dry period in the last 1,200 years. The drought is becoming a major problem in California. The current drought occurring since 2012 has shown up negative five on the Palmer Drought Index Severity. The Palmer Drought Index Severity is a scale to record droughts where, a zero represents normal conditions, a negative one is a drought, and a negative four is an extreme drought. Even though many might think the drought is only going to affect people inside California, but it is affects many people outside of California. California produces almost half of the fruits and vegetables in the United States, which is causing the prices to rise. The several years without much rain higher temperatures increase the cost of the drought and the amount of natural disasters in California. For …show more content…
Due to the lack of water people are pumping water out of the ground very quickly. Taking this much water out of the ground has some natural effects. In the article, “Why the California Drought is Affecting Everyone”by Katharine Mieszkowski she states “In some areas of the state, the groundwater has become so overtaxed that the earth is literally sinking. Between 2008 and 2011, parts of the Central Valley subsided more than 2 feet.” People are pumping so much water out of the ground, that the ground is sinking. In earlier years we were using about forty percent of the groundwater, but now during the drought years we are using sixty percent of the water. Additionally, the drought and higher temperatures cause the land to become dryer which increase the chance of a natural disaster. As a result of dryer land wildfires are becoming more common. The heat and the drought create a perfect condition for wildfires. There have been a thirty-six percent increase in wildfires in 5 years. The drought and the heat have created many natural disasters in