North America

Severe drought has US west fearing the worst

348940_us drought

An extreme drought affecting the western United States and California is the worst in centuries, causing the worst water shortage this region has faced in more than 500 years.

The punishing drought has resulted in near-empty water reservoirs, completely dry fields, starving livestock, clouds of smog and outbreaks of wildfires.

“We are on track for having the worst drought in 500 years,” said B. Lynn Ingram, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.

The impact of the drought, technically in its third year, has been particularly severe on farmers and ranchers.

Farmers in rural Nevada said they had even given up on planting, while ranchers in Northern California and New Mexico said they were being forced to sell off cattle as fields that should be 4 feet high in grass are blankets of brown and stunted stalks.

“I have experienced a really long career in this area, and my worry meter has never been this high,” said Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, a statewide coalition. “We are talking historical drought conditions, no supplies of water in many parts of the state. My industry’s job is to try to make sure that these kind of things never happen. And they are happening.”

US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has called the drought in California a “deep concern,” and a warning sign of trouble ahead for much of the West.

Vilsack said in an interview that his agency’s ability to help farmers absorb the shock, with subsidies to buy food for cattle, had been undercut by the long stalemate in Congress over extending the farm bill, which finally seemed to be resolved last week.

Back to top button