water crisis

California Celebrities Exceeding Water Use Limits Amid Drought

California Celebrities Exceeding Water Use Limits Amid Drought

Famous celebrities, including Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Sylvester Stallone, Kevin Hart and Dwyane Wade, are greatly exceeding water use limits in Southern California amid an ongoing drought. Over 2,000 customers were recently issued “notices of exceedance” by the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, meaning these customers used over 150% of their monthly limit for water […]

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    California Records Driest Year Since 1924

    California Records Driest Year Since 1924

    California just concluded its driest “water year” in nearly a century. Between October 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021, the cycle on which precipitation is measured, the average precipitation across the state’s weather stations was less than half of the historical average. Climate change, caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels is intensifying […]

    Disappearing Water in a Warming Climate: A Story in Four Visuals

    Disappearing Water in a Warming Climate: A Story in Four Visuals

    By John Letzing and Andrew Berkley Water scarcity will be the biggest climate-related threat to corporate assets like factories within the next few decades, according to a recent report – but it seems to have barely registered on investors’ radar. Of course, the human cost of worsening scarcity is already fully apparent; about one out […]

    Can the Colorado River Sustain More Population Growth?

    Can the Colorado River Sustain More Population Growth?

    News reports about the Colorado River over the last few months have been intense and depressing. The first ever “cuts” in water deliveries out of the river to Arizona and Nevada took hold last week, with more cuts likely coming to more states. The ongoing 20-year drought, with the likelihood that climate change is the […]

    Colorado River Water Shortage Declared for First Time in History

    Colorado River Water Shortage Declared for First Time in History

    Federal officials, for the first time ever, declared a water shortage from the Colorado River on Monday — yet another bleak indicator of the magnitude of the drought across the West made worse by climate change. “It’s a historic moment where drought and climate change are at our door,” Chuck Cullom of the Central Arizona […]

    Lake Powell Water Levels Fall to Lowest on Record

    Lake Powell Water Levels Fall to Lowest on Record

    Lake Powell fell to just 33% capacity Monday, marking the lowest level on record, in large part due to a climate-change driven drought in the region. The reservoir, which is the country’s second largest, is fed by the Colorado River and provides water for more than 40 million people across the region, including farmers, ranchers […]

    Severe Drought Is Taking a Toll on California and Western U.S.

    Severe Drought Is Taking a Toll on California and Western U.S.

    By Dana Nuccitelli California, along with much of the rest of the western United States, is once again mired in drought. In fact, California has experienced significant drought conditions in 13 of the 22 years (60%) since the turn of the century. A 2020 study in the journal Science concluded that 2000 through 2018 was […]

    California Gov. Expands Drought Declaration to 41 Counties

    California Gov. Expands Drought Declaration to 41 Counties

    California governor Gavin Newsom expanded an emergency drought declaration from two to 41 of the state’s 58 counties on Monday. About 40 million people, around 30% of the state’s population, now live under a drought emergency that Newsom said is likely to expand. “The hots are getting a lot hotter in this state, the dries […]

    Water Wells at Risk of Going Dry in the U.S. and Worldwide

    Water Wells at Risk of Going Dry in the U.S. and Worldwide

    By Debra Perrone and Scott Jasechko As the drought outlook for the Western U.S. becomes increasingly bleak, attention is turning once again to groundwater – literally, water stored in the ground. It is Earth’s most widespread and reliable source of fresh water, but it’s not limitless. Wells that people drill to access groundwater supply nearly […]