California suffering through driest three years ever recorded, with no relief in sight, according to the latest U.S. government-produced water outlook issued by the International Information and Technology Center.
In 2015, California ranked 38th on the list of nations with the most water stress, based on the IITC’s analysis of historical data covering 2000-2015, the most recent year for which data are available.
During this period, the amount of water per person (per capita) in California was 25 percent below where it was during 1974-1976 when the state was experiencing its driest-ever drought.
In California’s Northern Basin, where the San Francisco Bay Area is located, the amount of water per person was 29 percent below what it was in 1974-1976. In the Central Basin, where Los Angeles is located, the amount of water per person was 18 percent below that period and in the southern San Joaquin Basin, where Modesto is located, it was 22 percent below what it was during 1974-1976.
During the period 2000-2015, the amount of water per person in California increased by 7 percent.
During the past year, the amount of water per person in California increased by 2 percent.
“California is the exception in the history of the United States,” said IITC Director Michael Burger. “It’s not that California is drying up in the way that the rest of the country is drying up, but rather that California is experiencing an unprecedented degree of water stress, which is why the drought is so extreme.”
California has been in the grip of an extreme drought for the past 20 years, following the 1994-95 El Niño. Since the drought began in 2000, it has resulted in one of the driest winters in U.S. history. As recently as January 2015, the state was recording drier and drier conditions for the winter and spring.
Since California’s water woes began in earnest in
