Other than the sun, water is arguably the most important natural resource in all of history. For nearly four years now, California has been suffering from a historically parched drought, and there seems to be no end in sight. California ranks third in the United States in geographic area and, at roughly 40 million people, first in terms of population. Geographically, in the middle of the state lies the California Central Valley, bounded by the Sierra Nevada in the east, the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the Cascade Range to the north and the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. The Central Valley is California's agricultural heartland. Unlike the Dust Bowl of the 1930s which was predominantly as a result of a lack of dryland farming methods, California can attribute most of its situation to Mother Nature. Rain and snowfall totals are but a fraction of their average rates, and the effects are evident across the agriculturally-driven region. The once-flourishing state is implementing environmental legislature in an attempt to conserve their resources as only about a year’s worth remains in the reservoirs. The drought in California has caused both short and long term geographic reparations as well as present-day economic instability for the region.
Both short and long term geographic reparations are almost inevitable as a result of California’s drought. According to the National Drought Mitigation Center, nearly 80% of California is being classified as being under an “exceptional” or “extreme” drought. Short term effects include those concerning the consistent levels of surface water and groundwater. According to the California Water Science Center’s (CWWC) “The California Drought", their informative article for the public on the effects of this issue, “During drought, declines in surface water flows can be detrimental to hydropower production, navigation, recreation, and habitat for aquatic and riparian species” (1). Surface and groundwater not only serve as the most predominant sustainable source for streams, lakes, reservoirs, wetlands, and estuaries, but they also sustain streamflow between precipitation events. The center also cites that “prolonged dry, hot and windy weather, combined with dry vegetation and a spark - either through human intent, accident or lightning - can start a wildfire” (1). Wildfires have become increasingly commonplace throughout the west and have destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres, including residential and agricultural areas. The most irreversible of all the long term effects, however, comes with land subsistence issues. The CWWC defines land subsistence as “a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth's surface owing to subsurface movement of earth materials” (1). This is one instance where a human consumptive use has contributed to California’s issues. Over pumping in California's San Joaquin Valley aquifer system has caused renewed land-surface elevation drop that could result in serious operational and structural issues for the Delta-Mendota Canal (DMC). The statistics gathered by the CWWC indicate that The Golden State is on pace to catch up to the parched figures from the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and another serious drought from the 1970s. If more legislation to significantly reduce domestic consumptive uses of water is not enacted soon, the aforementioned short term effects could quickly develop into irreversible long term ones.
In order to understand the nature of California’s geo-economic issue, one must first understand the nature of water consumption as it relates to humans in general. According to William G. Moseley’s An Introduction to Human-Environment Geography: Local Dynamics and Global Processes, “Human water use may be categorized as either consumptive- water is removed from a source and not returned, or nonconsumptive- water is either not removed from a source or is temporarily removed and then returned.” (325) Consumptive uses are categorized as domestic (drinking, cooking, and cleaning), agricultural (irrigation and livestock), or industrial (manufacturing, processing, and energy). Nonconsumptive uses usually include using water as a renewable energy source such as utilizing the flow of a river to turn a turbine. Issues in California, as water turbines have not been completely refined, concern mostly the consumptive uses of water. People are having to limit how much water they use to drink and bathe with which are domestic uses. Agriculturally, however, there are many more concerns to take into account. Once one of the most prolific agricultural hubs in the United States, California is quickly declining in terms of production and self-sufficiency. Not only is the agriculture sector suffering from the lack of water, but its interrelated jobs are as well. People are not going hungry yet, but their wallets may be. In Bruce Kennedy’s “Gauging the economic impact of California’s drought”, Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York, summarizes his perspective of the situation with "We are witnessing a catastrophe in the making. The economy of the West could be a train wreck in slow motion" (3). His comments may not be far from reality. The dryness of The Golden State is causing an inflation of food prices from the east coast all the way overseas. The business of agriculture affects the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy. The classic economic model of “less of the resource, the more valuable it is” certainly applies to the things grown in the California Central Valley, thus affecting regions that import the goods. The lack of rainfall or snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, which accounts for nearly one third of California’s water alone, is forcing farmers to look elsewhere for the resource. So instead of acquiring the most required resource naturally, farmers must attempt to take out loans from skeptical banks to pay agribusinesses. Agribusinesses are the companies that supply inputs to farmers (equipment, seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides) and purchase, process, and market their outputs. They also shape markets and influence agricultural policy worldwide. Naturally, the banks want to know where their money is going and how likely it is that they get a return on their investment. If the farmers take out loans, then the price of their respective crop will increase for all producers, distributors, retailers, and consumers in order to both pay back the loans and receive a livable compensation for their efforts. The ultimate circumstance is that as long as California farmers are subjects of agribusinesses, then not only will other agriculturally-sectored jobs suffer but also the inflated prices of crops around the world.
California’s drought is beginning to settle itself into the daily processes and lives of the western United States. Nearly everybody now knows that it takes a gallon of water to produce an almond or over 100 gallons to produce an ounce of beef. The region is beginning to see the geographic effects of this small-scale issue, and the whole world is being affected economically. Just as it is stated in Human-Environment Geography: Local Dynamics and Global Processes, human-environment geography is a relationship in which “humans play a role in modifying environments, and these environments – in turn – influence human actions or behaviors. It is a two-way, synergistic relationship” (Moseley 32). Humans will influence and react to the natural geographic processes of the world, and the nature of that reaction will ultimately lead to its level of sustainability geographically, economically, and demographically.
