Understanding the California Drought

MFW I went to a restaurant and there was a sign that said "Water only available upon request."

(Frank Miller / Mad Max: Fury Road)
Here in California, we can relate to this. The effects of our drought are visible in every aspect of our daily lives. You'll see signs asking for forgiveness because the cities have stopped watering the grass. You see signs in restaurants that a cup of water will not be provided unless requested. There are restrictions on what days and times you can water your lawns. So what's going on?

How do we know we're in a drought?

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
The photo above was provided by Getty Images. It shows Lake Oroville after and before the drought. Images like these are the norm as we are watching our lakes and reservoirs dry up.

How do we end up in this situation?

The great thing about California is its beaches and wonderful climate. This also makes it a wonderful place for farmland and people. California has a LOT of farms and a LOT of people. What California doesn't have is water falling from the skies.

Most of California's water use is urban and agriculture. On average it's about 20/80 on the split. Due to new legislation many farms have been issued only 3/4 of their previous water allotments. This has reduced farm sizes by 1/4.

What are we doing about it?

(John Antczak / Associated Press)
Should we just wait for storms and El Nino to solve all of our problems? Unfortunately, we can't because the majority of our metropolitan areas are designed to wash rain right into the oceans in order to prevent flooding.

(Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters)
What are we doing then? We are restricting urban water use, agricultural water use, and pumping ground water to support our current needs. Unfortunately, the reality is that this can cause food prices to increase, earthquakes to occur more frequently, and has affected the quality of life in the state.

Water has become such a commodity and I must say "I resent its absence."

Dog Tax

TL;DR The drought in California is pretty bad. Please send water.

Sources:
Shoutout to @sixpartsseven for this amazing imgur album on the topic.
http://imgur.com/gallery/2hAtH

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/california-drought-will-governor-brown-stop-the-biggest-water-abusers/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/28/californias-drought-what-losing-63-million-gallons-of-water-looks-like/

http://www.ci.pomona.ca.us/index.php/public-works-home/water-conservation

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/RegionalDroughtMonitor.aspx?west

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-record-l-a-storm-20150915-story.html