The extreme drought has not lessened in the American Southwest and experts continue to predict it will only get worse.
National Geographic’s website has beautifully illustrated what is occurring with graphics, pictures, and video in a piece titled, “When the Snows Fail”. Plus it has an “interactive” map called, “Draining California”.
On its website, National Geographic poses the question,
“When will the hard choices be made?”
Interestingly, two of California’s water sources happen to be the Rubicon River and the Little Rubicon River located in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Fed by melting snowpack, these and other waters then flow into the Rubicon reservoir and eventually make their way into the state’s aqueducts.
The expression “crossing the Rubicon” and it’s variations originate from Julius Caesar’s crossing Italy’s Rubicon river on his way to Rome, and is commonly thought of as an irrevocable step or point of no return.
California’s Central Valley agricultural region is often referred to it as the “Nation’s Salad Bowl” and for good reason. The USGS reminds Americans that,
“More than 250 different crops are grown in the Central Valley”
The USGS website points out too that,
“the Central Valley … produces 1/4 of the Nation’s food, including 40% of the Nation’s fruits, nuts, and other table foods.”
And National Geographic website adds that,
“Virtually all of the almonds, olives, and walnuts grown in the United States come from the Central Valley, as does most of the nation’s domestic supply of canned tomatoes.”
Also, National Geographic says that,
“in the driest corners of the valley, aquifers are so overdrawn that fields have sunk by more than 30 feet”
Just imagine turning on your water faucet but nothing happens. That is already the harsh reality for folks in some California rural areas dependent on wells.
Read the National Geographic article here
Follow the National Geographic’s animated map here
Read statistics about California’s Central Valley here
