Although I have lived in California my whole life, I never
felt as though I lived in an area affected by drought. Sure, we don’t get a lot of rain during the
year and water supply warnings were occasionally on the news, but how could a
city 10 minutes away from the ocean be experiencing a drought? It just didn’t make sense to me. I think it was because I couldn’t actually
see with my eyes the effects of the drought.
The grass wasn’t any less greener, people didn’t remodel their yards
with rocks and cacti, and the trees weren’t dying. It is hard to understand something you can’t
see and I guess that’s where the saying “seeing is believing” comes from. When you can’t see the consequences or
effects of a drought, it’s hard to believe that it is really occurring even
when you are in the middle of it. I
started to really believe and become aware of the drought crisis in not only my
home state but in the country when I finally had physical proof.
My family has been going to Lake Mead in Nevada for over ten
years now and it is the biggest indicator of the drought that I have seen
yet. What is amazing about looking at
Lake Mead is that the cliffs surrounding it hold the lake’s history. You can see the different levels the water
has been at over the years and it is amazing and extremely concerning to
compare the water level today to what it has been in the past. Every year I visit Lake Mead, the water level
is significantly lower than the previous year.
The lake is currently at less than 40% capacity, a frightening statistic
that concerns those who depends on Lake Mead for water. Seeing the state that Lake Mead is in forced
me to face the very real problem of the drought and subsequent water crisis taking
over the country.
Casey, great blog post! Before taking this course, I also was unaware of the water crisis. Especially in America, we take water for granted and have access to it 24/7, so I didn't realize there was a crisis occurring. Taking this class and exploring the Trinity River has helped me understand that I need to show water some more respect. The amount of trash in the Trinity saddens me. Also, through reading The Big Thirst, I have come to the realization that I need to take more steps to conserve water. I need to cut down on how long my showers are and start drinking tap water over bottled water. These water conservation steps may seem minor, but if everyone in America is able to learn about the water crisis and take steps to reduce how much water they waste, we may be able to solve the crisis.
ReplyDeleteCasey, I enjoyed reading your post about the drought issue especially in California. I can relate to what you are saying about seeing the warnings but not actually understanding the water crisis. The only way I could ever measurably understand the extreme drought was when I would look at Folsom Lake by my house in Northern California. Because people are not attempting to cut back on their water, we are not noticing the problem (the lawns are still green, etc.), but soon we will be forced to acknowledge the growing problem.
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