California’s Governor Declares Drought State of Emergency:

California’s Governor, Jerry Brown, has declared a drought state of emergency for California last Friday.  

– California just had its driest calendar year in 119 years of record keeping in 2013

– California had had the direst first 4 months of a water year (Oct. 1 – Sept. 30th) on record

– California hasn’t had a major series of storms since December 2012

– California’s reservoirs are very low

– California’s snowpack was listed at 19% of average as of January 7th, 2014

“We can’t make it rain, but we can be much better prepared for the terrible consequences that California’s drought now threatens, including dramatically less water for our farms and communities and increased fires in both urban and rural areas.  I’ve declared this emergency and I’m calling all Californians to conserve water in every way possible.” – Jerry Brown

Governor Brown is urging Californian’s to cut their water use by 20%.  

Fires are a major concern in California right now as one fire is already burning in Glendora, CA.  This fire has been named the Colby fire.  1,100 firefighters are currently fighting this fire and it has burned over 1,800 acres since last Thursday.

“‘I think the drought emphasizes that we do live in an era of limits and that we need solutions that are elegant,’ the governor said. He added there’s ‘a huge gap’ between the measures that may be technologically and economically feasible — steps like wider use of recycled water — and the measures now employed in the state.” – KQED, an NPR member station in California