California Drought

El Capitan High School

Class: Earth and Space Science

Author: Stephanie Dimas

3/18/22
California Drought
“We’re in a drought.” is the line that Californians
hear ceaselessly but do most of them understand the
severity of the droughts? Needless to say, California
has been in serious trouble since the 1920s.
Throughout the years, droughts have progressively
gotten worse and it’s time we start doing something
now because soon, the future generations to come
will be dealing with our troubles.

California has dealt with extreme weather

since the beginning of time. El Niño and La Niña Oscillation are the ones to blame for the insane
weather patterns all over California. El Niño and La Niña are two opposing climate patterns that
disrupt normal weather conditions and cause there to be different weather in different parts of
California.

El Niño causes “winds to weaken and

warm water is pushed back east and toward the
west coast of the Americas”
(Oceanservice.noaa.gov). This causes places in
the northern U.S and Canada to be dryer and
have higher temperatures than usual. When El
Niño is in action, upwelling decreases and
sometimes stops altogether which affects the
sea life since the water is not at its regular state.

With La Niña, there is a contradictory effect than El Niño. La Niña causes stronger winds
that pushes the water towards Asia and increases upwelling. The increase of upwelling in the
west coast of the Americas brings “cold and nutrient-rich water to the surface”
(Oceanservice.noaa.gov) which is good for the support of sea life. However, during a La Nina
year, southern California suffers from warmer temperatures and dryness whereas northern
California experiences heavy rains and flooding.

Due to California’s weird weather conditions, there have been many problems and some
of them come in ways that many of us weren’t aware
of. The drought affects our public safety which can
affect the economy and environment. When we’re in
a drought, there is an increased risk of wildfires,
drinking water shortages in less populated areas,
increased tree mortality, and damage to forest
ecosystems. Not to mention that people, especially
farmers, can be impacted too because of the loss of
landscaping, agriculture, and job loss. It’s also harder
for people to deal with droughts because they are close to unpredictable since there isn’t a way
that people can forecast precipitation weeks or months ahead.

What we can do though, is come up with solutions to prevent

droughts from occurring. One of the easiest and highly encouraged
ways to conserve or collect freshwater is by rainwater harvesting.
Most homeowners and farmers now have set up tanks or barrels in
their homes and lands that they use to collect rainwater when it
rains. They collect the rainwater and then store it for later use when
in dry conditions. Other people can also do this by setting up
barrels in their homes too. Rain barrels installation range from
$100 to $5000 but individuals can determine which one is the best
fit for them. The downsides to this solution would be the initial
high cost of installing the system, regular maintenance, storage limitations, and possible
contamination of water from chemicals or animal droppings. State governments can help and
play a big role in this by providing financial assistance to help install rainwater harvesting
systems in homes to encourage families to conserve water.
 Another easy way to collect freshwater is by planting more trees. By planting more trees,
we are increasing the success of precipitation and it improves the air quality and the
environment. To plant a tree, the cost ranges from
$150 to $3000 depending on the size and species of
trees. Planting trees also isn’t very eco-friendly since
it requires plastic for planting. Not to mention that by
planting non-native trees there is a faster
decomposition of trees and release of carbon dioxide
because of the fast decomposition and digging which
burns fossil fuels. Once again, state governments can
help the increase of freshwater by giving financial
assistance to organizations that deal with reforestation and all things trees.

Lastly, wastewater recycling. Many people are

opposed to the idea of recycling water because
they think it’s “gross.” However, billions of
gallons of treated water go into the ocean each
year when it could be used for “irrigation, toilet
flushing, groundwater replenishment, and an
array of other uses” (Inhabitat.com). Most of
the wastewater can be treated through various
water recycling sites so that it doesn’t go to
waste. The disadvantage to this option would be that it’s expensive. The annual cost to treat just
California’s wastewater was estimated to be more than $3.6 billion. Though, state governments
can contribute by giving financial assistance that goes towards companies that focus on
wastewater recycling.

In conclusion, it’s important to conserve our freshwater as well as prevent droughts that
can take our very sacred resources. We can do this by being mindful and coming up with
different solutions to prevent severe droughts and freshwater scarcity from occurring because it
doesn’t just affect our water resources, it affects our communities too which is why I believe
these solutions are the best to help us combat these events.