Residents should begin conserving water and reducing daily usage by 20 to 50 percent in order to combat what many scientists consider the driest year in half a century after Governor Jerry Brown declared California in a state of emergency on Jan. 17.
The drought is hitting hard all around California, particularly the fields, where farmers are leaving 25 percent of land this year unplanted due to water shortages. Not only could this lead to ecological problems and food shortages, but it will also affect many jobs in agriculture.
“I don’t think many of us see the sense of urgency, but we are hearing about it,” Principal Ms. Mary Jo Fosselman King said. “It hasn’t really been a focus, but it’s definitely something that we should start considering with our maintenance staff, to see if we can cut back on anything.”
Governor Brown’s declaration led legislators to draft and send a federal $644 million emergency drought bill to the State Senate. If passed, it will fund state projects dedicated to conserving the water supply. Locally, residents, including students, are doing their part to help the state through the drought.
“I do little things like when I wash my hands or brush my teeth, I make sure the water isn’t still running,” Senior Betty Du said. “Because of habits, these things are hard to always remember, but I try my best to save water.”
Although the effects of the drought are not directly noticeable, they are still very locally prevalent. The season total for precipitation this year was 1.11 inches in the Los Angeles County, in comparison to last season’s 4.44 inches, while the season norm is supposed to be 8.04 inches.
“Southern California is actually in better shape than Northern California because of the significant investments we’ve made in water storage and infrastructure in the past decade or two,” San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District Division III Director Thomas Wong said. “Most water agencies in Southern California are okay in the short term.”
Even so, Wong advises residents to continue to be careful about their water usage if the drought continues on and he warns that cutbacks may be necessary and the water prices will rise.
One of the conservation efforts underway on campus is that maintenance has not been watering the JV Baseball field because teachers currently in the 100s and 200s buildings will be in portable classrooms there once construction begins this summer.
Feature Editor Andrew Song contributed to this article.