Is there really a water shortage in California ?

[Mikey]

For the last few weeks I've been hearing some newcasters talk about California's bad water shortage --- and others never mention anything about it.

Is it as bad as some people claim ?

PS, I wish we could send yous over some Pennsylvania clouds -- seems like they wont stop raining

[LonnieFisher]

Ocean water and heat can make clean water, so it can't be that bad...

[Iron Mego]

We have had four winters with very little rain. There is most definitely a drought here.

https://waterlessworld.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/california-drought-2015.png

I live right in the middle there, where it gets darker every year.

[Confessional]

Up here in the northern half of the state we are watching everything dry up, then burn. Fireworks and lightening strikes across the past couple weeks have the FD's running red every day.

In some ways it's far worse than much of what you hear. There's a complicated [political] mess including huge looming short-term decisions this state is going to have to make regarding industry, fracking, agriculture, deep wells, salinity and water harvesting. What's been done to the water table in the Delta and Central Valley over the past 100 years is mind boggling; as a non-native Californian almost impossible to even believe.

If you want an eye-opening education on what's happening with the world's water check out NASA's GRACE Mission. The results are startling and depressing to say the least.

[LonnieFisher]

Fracking should have never been allowed.

[J.B.]

We may be getting some relief from the expected arrival of El Niño this year. The last major one we had occurred when I was heavy into mountain biking. All the trails were nice & green with full creeks. Can't wait 'till it hits.

[Carmelkettle]

Oh, it's bad. Much of it has to do with excess water use for non-agricultural purposes (midwestern- and eastern-type landscaping with green grass, shrubs and trees in the desert); giant commercial farms that don't rotate crops that would refresh and renew the soil (resulting in less water use, long term); and most of all, lack of snow.
This is a link to a NASA site about Folsom lake, a major recreational and water-source reservoir in the North-East part of the state. Note this site is over a year old (and there was still water in the lake); today it's virtually empty, maybe a little left to splash around in. https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/multimedia/.../#.VZX3eIXDUvR
The Truckee River - the main outlet of Lake Tahoe - is down to about a foot deep and we're just entering the hottest part of the year.

[Hector]

I went to Yosemite this past late May...the waterfalls were flowing nicely (less intense than in the past though), but noticed the river receding...and Mirror Lake was definitely smaller.

Here in the Bay Area...yes...we have been warned not to go over a certain amount of water per household...or you'll get fined.

We ourselves eliminated the front lawn...will be installing a stone paved driveway in its place.

[steelcouch]

I live in the central valley and lawns have deinately gone dry. They haven't talked about fining people for over water usage but I think they should definitely start. On another note, the school that I work for had a end of year water party where they ran the sprinklers all day. I guess some people just don't get it.

[Apositive]

Yes, it's true.....huge patches of brown in public parks....scary prospects for the future.....

[Earth 2 Chris]

I wish I could share some of our abundance of rain here in KY. It's been raining nearly non-stop for a month. I can barely keep up with the grass growing.

We had some awful summer droughts here back when I was a kid. It really, really sucked. The grass was brown and crunchy, and we had to ration water. I empathize.

Chris