"Only You Can Prevent the Drought"

We are taught, from a very young age, about the importance of conserving the water we use on a day to day basis. Whether that means we are told to take shorter showers, or not leave the water running when we exit the room, the rules of water conservation are generally overlooked or ignored. Part of the reason for this is because most people have never lived in a place where this issue was a legitimate concern. However, the good people of California, including myself, know far too well how real the issue of a drought can be. Visitors of the state of California can see the effects of this drought virtually anywhere they go. Governor Jerry Brown is attempting to fine the cities ten thousand dollars that are known for wasting the most water annually.The water guzzling towns include Beverly Hills, Bakersfield, and Hillsborough. Some of the most historic fishing spots in the Sierra Nevadas, in which I spent nearly all of my summers at as a child, are being shut down due to the lack of water in their lakes. And is if that isn’t enough for you, the luxury of getting a glass of water at a restaurant before your meal is no longer practiced in the golden state. The effects of this drought are absolutely impossible to escape. Some residents like to make the argument that California is such a large state that it couldn’t possibly be effected entirely; that statement could not be more false. A study published by NBC News.com showed that ninety-eight percent of the most populated state in the US is being effected by this drought. Residents of the poorer cities, such as Compton, are paying the higher water bills forced on by the state and sacrificing things such as their personal hygiene in order to maintain the little money they have. As a resident there is no denying the severity of this situation and the time to stand up and make a difference is now. While the drought continues to be ignored by some residents of the state, there are a large majority of people who are doing their best to reduce their water usage. In some parts of the state people are letting their front lawns die in order to save thirty to sixty percent of the water they would normally use annually for their homes. Some residents are refusing to wash their cars and are even using their sinks to wash their clothes; and some exceptional people of California are pushing for a law in order to recycle the water in our toilets, calling it “grey water”, to ensure we aren’t using our cleanest water for something so unnecessary. This drought will not be stopped unless more people start to follow the crowd and adapt these types of living. California is full of a lot of stubborn and resistant people, such as my own family, and its time they start to educate themselves before its too late. The one hundred year drought will not go away unless the people of my home state start to make sacrifices for the greater good. New legislation to reduce water usage and conserve what they have is being written everyday,such as the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015 that aims to lower the percentage of water the state uses annually by close to sixty percent, but will continue to do nothing if the people do not act upon it themselves. This country was founded upon people taking matters into their own hands and accomplishing a specific goal. Whether it was the goal of African American citizens in the1960s who fought for their civil rights or the Women suffrage movements of the 1900s, the people of America have proven over and over again they are willing to fight for what they believe in. If us Californians learn from our history this drought can slowly become less and less of an issue. However if they don’t, the country might be loosing perhaps its most beautiful state.