California’s drought is a public health crisis

California’s drought is a public health crisis

As drought drives prices higher, millions of Californians struggle to pay for water

As drought drives prices higher, millions of Californians struggle to pay for water

By

William Boothbay

SAN FRANCISCO

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

In the water-rich Central Valley, a little-known but important agricultural district

has been hit by the worst natural disaster in California’s history. But the valley

isn’t alone: The state is suffering from one of the nation’s worst droughts.

More than three-quarters of the state’s population — 7.4 million — now struggles

even to pay for its water.

“This is a public health crisis,” said Michael Gette, the state’s chief hydrologist.

With its historic drought now at an all-time high, the state is struggling to keep its

water-guzzling cities and farms flowing, and its farmers and residents can’t afford

to pay for the increasingly scarce water.

And that, in the end, is what the drought will do to communities of all

size.

In many ways, California, which is at the heart of the U.S. agricultural cycle,

hasn’t been this bad since the state suffered a devastating dust storm in February

1996, which killed at least 100 people, injured 2,000 and destroyed tens of thousands

of homes and businesses.

Then, as now, the drought hasn’t really been felt in the Central Valley, where

agriculture was just growing.

In the years after the dust storm, farmers found themselves with nowhere to

pitch and farmers markets were struggling to keep up with growing demand.

“We were very grateful for the dust,” said Robert Brown, a farmer from Los

Angeles. “But at the same time, to our disadvantage and our great disadvantage

in the end the drought took away what we could have produced, as well as the crops.”

The Central Valley was one of the few regions in the state that seemed to grow

out of the dust. It was growing crops that had always been a reliable

Leave a Comment