California is experiencing a water crisis, but you probably already knew that. Almost all of California is experiencing an extreme drought and according to WHO? it’s not going anywhere. The least we can do is try to adjust the ways we use or waste water.

According to many major news sites SUCH AS?, we have about a year left of water. Reporters came to this conclusion after a column written by Caltech Senior Water Scientist Jay Famiglietti was published earlier this year. However, since this information came out, Famiglietti has denied saying this. It seems that the information in his study was misinterpreted. He said California still has decade’s worth of groundwater left according to the Los Angeles Times. This doesn’t excuse us from at least trying to lessen the water shortage. In fact, this is the first time in California’s history in which water conservation methods will be mandated.

There are various factors that can cause or worsen a drought. The negative can be blamed on other things like population and levels of precipitation but since we don’t have any sort of water creation device and we’re not about to stop existing or procreating for the sake of water conservation, we can try because apparently we haven’t been doing enough.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Governor Jerry Brown “asked for a 20 percent voluntary cut in water.” This time it’s a mandatory 25 percent cut and that’s only one thing we have to strive for. Last year there was a debate about the pros and cons of imposing mandates, but things have gotten so bad that changes had to be made.

Other restrictions include not being able to use sprinklers on days when it rains. This is just common sense, you’re just required to use it now. There will be a rebate program in which people will be able to replace their older appliances with more water-efficient ones. Some schools are already in the process of switching over according to thetrumpet.com. Though conservation and environmental regulations aren’t enough to quell our water scarcity alone, they can’t hurt.

It’s not all bad news. Some of these changes indicate that we are in trouble but like any other serious situation, people tend to exaggerate. People are worrying that this drought will drive up food prices drastically. According to the Washington Post, the amount of underground water we have saved makes up for the one-third reduction in surface water supplies.

It seems that the agricultural field uses the most water but is exempt from these restrictions. According to NBC California, Farmers are only required to report any increases in water usage. Because we aren’t all in the farming industry, we must learn how to comply with these new implementations.

There are some seemingly insignificant but actually ingenious ways to preserve water. Wateruseutwisely.com suggests that you should avoid using water guns and water falls and furthermore recommends that you use a community pool rather than a private one.

If you’ve dropped ice on the ground or you don’t want it anymore, you can recycle it by dumping it into houseplants. In that same vein, if you have to wait for your water to get hot, take the running water and use that to water plants as well. These actions require integrity and will power though you should want to find ways to help conserve water instead of just doing thing because “the government says so.”