(MENAFN- AzerNews)
By Trend
Drought-stricken California announced a new water strategy to
adapt to hotter, drier conditions caused by climate change as
officials believe extreme weather could diminish water supply by up
to 10 percent by 2040 in the most populous U.S. state, Trend reports citing Xinhua .
To replace and replenish what the southwestern U.S. state will
lose to thirstier soils, vegetation, and the atmosphere, California
Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled the actions to increase water supply
and adapt to more extreme weather patterns.
The actions, outlined in a strategy document, calls for
investing in new sources of water supply, accelerating projects and
modernizing how the state manages water through new technology.
Newsom's announcement followed 8 billion U.S. dollars in state
investments over the last two years to help store, recycle, de-salt
and conserve the water it will need to keep up with the increasing
pace of climate change, generating enough water in the future for
more than 8.4 million households by 2040, according to a press
release from the governor's office.
'To help make up for the water supplies California could lose
over the next two decades, the strategy prioritizes actions to
capture, recycle, de-salt and conserve more water,' the release
noted.
'The best science tells us that we need to act now to adapt to
California's water future. Climate change means drought won't just
stick around for two years at a time like it historically has -
extreme weather is a permanent fixture here in the American West
and California will adapt to this new reality,' Newsom said in the
release.
According to the statewide survey 'Californians and the
Environment' published last month by the Public Policy Institute of
California, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, Californians are
most likely to name water supply and drought, followed by wildfires
and climate change, as the most important environmental issue
facing the state today.
The survey showed that 68 percent of Californians say the supply
of water is a big problem in their part of California, while strong
majorities feel that neither the state and local government nor
people in their part of California are doing enough in response to
the drought.
Droughts in the U.S. West have led water levels in many major
lakes to drop dramatically. Shasta Lake, the largest reservoir in
California, was reportedly at less than half of where it usually
should be in early May.
The megadrought that has gripped the southwestern United States
for the past 22 years is the worst in at least 1,200 years, said a
research published in February in the journal Nature Climate
Change.
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