Why excerpt this site?
Food prices have already been rising at an alarming rate, and the longer this drought goes on the higher they will go. Let us hope and pray that this drought is permanently broken at some point, because otherwise we could very well be entering an era of extreme water rationing, gigantic dust storms and crippling food prices. The following are 20 signs that the epic drought in the western half of the United States is starting to become apocalyptic...
#1 According to the Los Angeles Times, downtown Los Angeles is now the driest that it has been since records began being kept all the way back in 1877.
#2 The California State Water Resources Control Board says that nearly 50 communities are already on the verge of running out of water.
#3 In a desperate attempt to conserve water, the state of California is considering banning watering lawns and washing cars. Once implemented, violators will be slapped with a $500 fine for each offense.
#4 It has been reported that a new social media phenomenon known as “drought shaming” has begun in California. People are taking videos and photos of their neighbors wasting water and posting them to Facebook and Twitter.
#5 Climate scientist Tim Barnett says that the water situation in Las Vegas “is as bad as you can imagine”, and he believes that unless the city “can find a way to get more water from somewhere” it will soon be “out of business”.
#6 The water level in Lake Mead has now fallen to the lowest level since 1937, and it continues to drop at a frightening pace. You can see some incredible photos of what has happened to Lake Mead right here.
#7 Rob Mrowka of the Center for Biological Diversity believes that the city of Las Vegas is going to be forced to downsize because of the lack of water...
The drought is like a slow spreading cancer across the desert. It’s not like a tornado or a tsunami, bang. The effects are playing out over decades. And as the water situation becomes more dire we are going to start having to talk about the removal of people (from Las Vegas).
#8 In some areas of southern Nevada, officials are actually paying people to remove their lawns in a desperate attempt to conserve water.
#9 According to Accuweather, “more than a decade of drought” along the Colorado River has set up an “impending Southwest water shortage” which could ultimately affect tens of millions of people.
#10 Most people don’t realize this, but the once mighty Colorado River has become so depleted that it no longer runs all the way to the ocean.
#11 Lake Powell is less than half full at this point.
#12 It is being projected that the current drought in California will end up costing the state more than 2 billion dollars this year alone.
#13 Farmers in California are allowing nearly half a million acres to lie fallow this year due to the extreme lack of water.
#14 The lack of produce coming from the state of California will ultimately affect food prices in the entire nation. Just consider the following statistics from a recent Business Insider article...
California is one of the U.S.’s biggest food producers — responsible for almost half the country’s produce and nuts and 25% of our milk and cream. Eighty percent of the world’s almonds come from the state, and they take an extraordinary amount of water to produce — 1.1 gallons per almond.
#15 As underground aquifers are being relentlessly drained in California, some areas of the San Joaquin Valley are sinking by 11 inches a year.
#16 It is being projected that the Kansas wheat harvest will be the worst that we have seen since 1989.
#17 The extended drought has created ideal conditions for massive dust storms to form. You can see video of one female reporter bravely reporting from the middle of a massive dust storm in Phoenix right here.
#18 Things are so dry in California right now that people are actually starting to steal water. For example, one Mendocino County couple recently had 3,000 gallons of water stolen from them. It was the second time this year that they had been hit.
#19 At the moment, close to 80 percent of the state of California is experiencing either “extreme” or “exceptional” drought.
#20 National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Boldt says that this is “the worst drought we probably have seen in our lifetime”.
Most people just assume that this drought will be temporary, but experts tell us that there have been “megadroughts” throughout history in the western half of the United States that have lasted for more than 100 years.
If we have entered one of those eras, it is going to fundamentally change life in America.
And the frightening thing is that much of the rest of the world is dealing with water scarcity issues right now as well. In fact, North America is actually in better shape than much of Africa and Asia. For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled “25 Shocking Facts About The Earth’s Dwindling Water Resources”.
Without plenty of fresh water, modern civilization is not possible.
And right now, the western United States and much of the rest of the world is starting to come to grips with the fact that we could be facing some very serious water shortages in the years ahead.
And here in Colorado, we are ending our drought and are having to deal with flash floods.
sounds like a good time to import a couple million more illiterate farm migrants from central america into the west and southwest
NOT
Can or freeze the produce you can this summer. This winter the prices are going up a lot!
Nuclear power + desalinization plants on the west coast = problem solved
Will that happen in California? Not in a million years.
Already posted, same article, different blog.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3123710/posts
I find the best way to search is take a couple of words like “20 signs” and search the title.
Prophecy Newswatch?
LOL! Really?
They have limitless water just west but the environazis will never allow desalinizing.
“Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.”
“You drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges. You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops.”
Water is life and rain is a blessing from God.
We have more water than we need here in LA (lower Alabama) Roll Tide!
Plenty of water here in the Tennessee valley water system TVA, in fact, Atlanta tried to move their border with Tennessee to “borrow” some a few years back, causing a little friction in these parts.
Stupid article. The solution is always the simplest answer. In this case, it is one word: DESALINIZATION
The Pacific Ocean is 64 million sq. miles with an average depth of 12,925 ft. Assuming 50% conversion salt water to fresh water, reducing the depth of the Pacific Ocean by one foot would provide 518.7 billion gallons of potable water.
I have an idea. Let’s import hundreds of thousands more people fron south of the border!
Texas is coming out of a severe drought. 2011 was the worst I have ever seen on the Gulf Coast. 100 to 200 year old trees died and pastures were as brown as dirt. Ranchers sold off their herds. Finally it is green again.
And to think, in the 1800s, from the HIGH PLAINS west, was known as THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT.
Are they going to ban water in swimming pools and watering golf courses? Just wondering.
Doesn’t the southwest get a lot of its water and hydroelectric power from the northwest?
Was the southwest intended to accommodate so many millions of people in what is generally an arid climate?
Author loses al credibility right here.
Next he'll be talking about the economy and quoting Noam Chomsky.