Dennis Prager And Glenn Beck: An Angry God Totally Caused California's Drought

California Imposes "Unprecedented" Mandatory Statewide Water Restrictions

Speaking from a water-parched perch in the Sierra Nevadas that would normally be covered with five feet or more of snow, today California Gov. Jerry Brown announced unprecedented mandatory water use restrictions. ABC News reports:

For the first time in the state's history, the governor has directed the State Water Resources Control Board to implement mandatory water reductions across California, in an effort to reduce water usage by 25 percent. The measures include replacing 50 million square feet of lawns throughout the state with drought-tolerant landscaping, banning the watering of grass on public street medians, requiring agricultural water users to report their water use to state regulators, and requiring large landscapes such as campuses, golf courses and cemeteries to make significant cuts in water use.

The last four years have been the driest in California’s recorded history. As of March 24, more than 98 percent of California is suffering from abnormally dry conditions, with 41.1 percent in an exceptional drought, according the U.S. Drought Monitor, which estimates that more than 37 million Californians have been affected by the drought. The state’s snowpack, which is largely responsible for feeding the state’s reservoirs, has been reduced to 8 percent of its historical average, and in some areas in the Central Valley the land is sinking a foot a year because of over-pumping of groundwater for agriculture.

The snowpack in neighboring Nevada's Lake Tahoe water basin is reported to be at 3% of its normal size. For now, neither state is restricting water usage by private homes, but experts have warned that that is surely coming. Yesterday the water provider to the Reno area asked customers to cut their use by 10%.

NASA: California Is Almost Out Of Water

Via the Guardian:

As California experiences the fourth year of one of the most severe droughts in its history, a senior NASA scientist has warned that the state has about one year of water left. In an LA Times editorial published last week, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory senior water cycle scientist Jay Famiglietti called for a more “forward-looking process” to deal with the state’s dwindling water supply. Famiglietti, who is also a professor at University of California at Irvine, said the state had about one year of water in reservoir storage and the backup supply, groundwater, was low. “California has no contingency plan for a persistent drought like this one (let alone a 20-plus-year mega-drought), except, apparently, staying in emergency mode and praying for rain,” Famiglietti wrote. “In short, we have no paddle to navigate this crisis.” NASA data shows that water storage has been in steady decline in California since at least 2002, before the drought began.

Water rationing plans are well underway.

The State Water Resources Control Board in Sacramento will consider sweeping mandates on landscape irrigation Tuesday that could limit water usage for most California homes and businesses to only a few days of the week. If approved, local water agencies would be tasked with choosing the particular days for rationing the supply, but under the mantra that everyone needs to step up conservation efforts. It's a reaction, of course, to the epic, ongoing drought and an especially warm and dry winter. Recently released data from January show that Californians only reduced their water usage by 8.8 percent when compared to January 2013, despite an emergency draft order last year from Gov. Jerry Brown, who asked for a 20 percent cut.

In case you haven't been following along, the drought is Obama's fault, of course.

BRAZIL: Sao Paulo Water Crisis Worsens

The world's third-most populous city may soon only have water for two days a week.

The worst drought to hit São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, in decades may leave many residents with water service only two days a week. São Paulo’s water utility company, Sabesp, says a five-days-off, two-days-on system would be a last-ditch effort to prevent the collapse of the Cantareira water system. The reservoir is the largest of six that provide water to about six million of the 20 million people living in the metropolitan area of São Paulo. The utility says Cantareira is now down to 5.1 percent of its capacity of 264 billion gallons. A utility official, Paulo Massato Yoshimoto, said Wednesday that “rationing could happen if rainfall does not increase in the reservoir area soon.” Details of how a rationing plan might be put in place were not released.

More analysis:

The worst drought in nearly a century continues to plague Sao Paulo state and neighboring Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais states in southeastern Brazil; the nearly 30 million people living in the extended municipal complex of Sao Paulo have been dealing with extremely low reservoir levels for more than a year. In fact, the water reserves have fallen so low that they are now below the dead level, the point at which the water must be pumped up to reach the pipes connecting the reservoir to the greater distribution system. We are already seeing reports and anecdotal evidence of limited water availability in Sao Paulo, from limited flow to lack of availability in whole neighborhoods. The consumer will feel the greatest impact of the water shortages, but it will not be just households that will have to adjust. Large commercial consumers of water such as the petrochemical, steel, ethanol and textile manufacturing industries in Sao Paulo state account for approximately 70 percent of Brazil's total industrial water use.

According to Reuters, the Amazon lost another 2300 square miles of rainforest just last year.

Put On Your Shocked Face