California’s severe drought conditions remain for a third consecutive year as the climate becomes drier and hotter.
Driving the news: Dried-up wells have now become a common occurrence. According to The Washington Post, more than 1,300 wells in California were dry this year — nearly 40% more than last year.
Most of them were located in the San Joaquin Valley, an area swarmed by the agriculture industry. This shortage in wells has caused an estimated 2,400 homes to use plastic water tanks for emergency use, per the Post.
Why does it matter? “While California has seen a fourth year of drought as recently as 2012-2016 … this will be the first drought that includes shortage issues on the Colorado River,” said Michael Anderson, California’s state climatologist with the Department of Water Resources, according to a report by the Post last month.
State of play: Earlier this month, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the city — which is made up of 4 million residents — used 6 billion gallons less water from June through September compared to last year, according to the Los Angeles Times,
What’s next: A report from the office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom states that over the next two decades, the state could lose 10% of its water supply, which would have a dire impact on the ecosystem.