How would you feel if your livelihood, your crops, and your main source of income were threatened, but all you can do is watch them wither into dust? This is just one of the many problems that farmers, and many others in the state of California, have to face. From San Diego to Crescent City, rivers and reservoirs have been drying up as California enters its fifth consecutive year of drought. Though some experts believe that the drought could end this year, due to the recent influx of El Nino storms, a few weeks of rain does not correct years of drought. On January seventeenth of 2014, California governor Jerry Brown declared a statewide drought emergency, which only validated the gravity of the situation (Rogers). However, not all hope is completely lost. The Sierra Nevada snowpack, which makes up a third of California’s water supply, is about 150 percent of normal. Though, in order for California’s reservoirs to be replenished, the snowpack trend must remain the same. In this speech I’ll be speaking…show more content… The man announcing the end of the drought is California Governor Jerry Brown. Many different state agencies are holding weekly meetings while collaborating with Governor Brown, working as a task force of sorts. By the end of this year’s rainy season, the agencies will give a recommendation to the governor on whether or not the drought declaration will be lifted (Rogers). With all this being said, some people might be asking just how far California still has to go. In order to get an estimate, years when other major droughts ended were researched. In each study, the Sierra snowpack was about 150 percent of the average snowpack. In addition, precipitation levels at major reservoirs were 130-150 percent of normal. Most recently, the Sierra snowpack was 145.5 percent of normal, but the precipitation levels at major reservoirs were lacking, at only 94 percent of normal
