California’s Nightmare Drought
DINA SPECTOR
BusinessInsider.com
FEB. 26, 2014
The terrible severity of California’s drought is strikingly obvious these side-by-side images of Folsom Lake, a reservoir near Sacramento. On July 20, 2011, the lake was at 97% of its total capacity, according to NASA. On Jan. 16, 2014, the lake had dipped drastically to only 17% of its total capacity. At that time, water levels were so low that it exposed the remains of a Gold-Era-era mining town flooded in the 1950s.
Nearly half-a-million people get their water from Folsom Lake, which flows to the American River. In January, as the river and other major reservoirs dried up, California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency and called for voluntary conservation measures.
Much-needed rain storms in early February brought limited relief to the lake, but it remained at less than one-third of what the water storage should be for the time of year, a spokesman for the California Department of Water Resources told The Sacramento Bee.
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