National Drought Crisis: How We Can Preserve Fresh Water

Step 1: Understanding The Nationwide Drought

Climate change has become a mainstream global discussion. Today Americans are experiencing some of its many harmful side-effects. Among the most devastating of these changes is the shortage of fresh water. California has taken the brunt of the water shortage crisis as evidenced by experiencing its worst drought on record. In an article published on February 1st, the L.A. Times reported “San Francisco gets no rain in January for first time in 165 years.”

Step 2: Understanding Contributing Factors

Climate change is not the only contributing factor to negatively affect California’s fresh water supply. Enter Fracking. This rapidly flourishing industry has played a large role in America’s pursuit of energy independence, but it also has had some notably harmful effects on local fresh water resources.

Step 3: Understanding The Effects on the Californian Agriculture & Economy

The combination of changing weather patterns and increased ground water pollution brings unprecedented risk to California’s agricultural sector. California farmers grow a surprising majority of America’s fruits, vegetables and nuts: “99 percent of artichokes, 99 percent of walnuts, 97 percent of kiwis, 97 percent of plums, 95 percent of celery, 95 percent of garlic, 89 percent of cauliflower, 71 percent of spinach, and 69 percent of carrots (and the list goes on and on).” according to Brian Palmer’s article “If we didn’t have California, what would we eat?” in the online magazine, Slate.com. A water shortage of today’s magnitude does not only take a toll on California’s agriculture, but also on that sector’s contribution to the state’s economy, which ranks 8th in the world (on par with Russia’s). Our country’s food supply and the livelihood of thousands of farmers rely on a steady supply of fresh water to grow crops and maintain livestock.

Step 4: Understanding Effects On Rural Communities

Rural Californians are reminded about water conservation regularly with water restrictions imposed by the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA). However, issues of water shortage are not the only local hardships that citizens struggle with on a daily basis. In some gated rural Californian communities, people face conflicting social and financial pressures to ignore water regulations by having fines imposed on them for not keeping their lawns and gardens up to the community’s standards.

Step 5: Taking Action At Home

By this point, we understand enough to know we should try to take action and do something about it. But what can we do as individuals? To start, we can cover some of the basics: take shorter showers, install water conserving shower heads or even something as simple as making sure to not leave the water running while shaving.

But when you are faced with challenges like maintaining a healthy home, lawn and garden, simple solutions aren’t quite so commonplace. So how can we maintain our desired standard of living while adjusting to these new challenges to our natural resources?

When it comes to landscaping and gardening, home owners can easily conserve water and maintain a luxurious, beautiful environment by planting artificial outdoor trees, plants, shrubs and flowers. Outdoor topiaries accent entryways and patios, a line of cedars create a natural fence-line, boxwood balls add depth and variety to front lawns and azaleas can bring brilliant color to window boxes.

For those seeking drought proof solutions for their yard care, ArtificialPlantsAndTrees.com offers a variety of ways to create a lawn and garden for your home that will last for years to come. Their are plenty of low-maintenance, water-free plants available for your home that that can provide a beautiful atmosphere while preserving fresh water for your local agriculture. Those who are looking to upgrade the rest of their outdoor experience can also browse through a constantly growing selection of premium patio furniture.