What You Need to Know about the Drought

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HO DROUGHT HOW BAD IS THE DROUGHT? California's 2014 Water Year was the third driest in 119 years and the warmest year on record. On January 17, 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown proclaimed a State of Emergency throughout the State of California due to "severe drought conditions" He has since put in place mandatory water restrictions aiming to cut water use by 25% in one year HOW IS WATER CURRENTLY BEING USED? Roughly 80% of human water use goes to California's 9 million acres of irrigated farmland The thirstiest crops include rice, pistachios, and almonds, along with alfalfa (primarily used to feed dairy cows) and pasture land Roughly half of urban water use is for residential and commercial landscaping The average Californian uses 181 gallons of water each day WHAT ÄRE SOME WAYS THAT INDIVIDUALS CAN CUT THEIR WATER USAGE? 合 IN YOUR YARD IN YOUR HOME AUDIT your irrigation system TAKE shorter showers V REDUCE CHECK for plumbing leaks use of sprinklers REPLACE non-native plants and REPLACE inefficient fixtures grasses with drought-resistant plants and hardscaping with more efficient models PROVIDED BY: PENNINGTON CREATIVE PENNINGTONCREATIVE.COM SOURCES: http://gov.ca.gov/docs/4.1.15_Executive_Order.pdf http://www.epa.gov/watersense/ http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id%=18910 http://ca.water.usgs.gov/water_use/ http://www.ppic.org/main/publication_show.asp?i=1108 http://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2015/04/ CA-Ag-Water-Use.pdf