Cracks in the dry bed of the Stevens Creek Reservoir in Cupertino, Calif.
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
For many states, the rainy season is over, and most of the Western United States is now locked into a fourth consecutive year of drought. The imminent dry summer is particularly foreboding for California, where more than 44% of land area is engulfed in an exceptional level of drought. This was the highest such share nationwide and the kind of water shortage seen only once a century.
According to a study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), “Droughts in the U.S. Southwest and Central Plains during the last half of this century could be drier and longer than drought conditions seen in those regions in the last 1,000 years.” The likelihood of such a drought is 12%, NASA scientists estimated.
THE NINE STATES
9. Texas
> Pct. severe drought: 24.7%
> Pct. extreme drought: 14.9% (5th highest)
> Pct. […]
Go to YouTube and watch videos about “rainwater harvesting.” 1 inch of rain on a square mile is 117 million gallons. We had some nice rain last Friday/Saturday. Billions of gallons of clean water ran into the Pacific that could have been captured.