California Has About One Year Of Water Left, NASA Scientist Warns

The state of California is in serious trouble. The massive drought that's entering its fourth year has devastated the state, all but drying up major lakes and rivers, crippling farm production, and threatening the wine and almond industry, two major harvest yields in California. Most recently, NASA scientist Jay Famiglietti gave this grave warning in an op-ed for the LA Times: California has approximately one year left of water left in its reservoirs.

Data from NASA shows that the total amount of water storage lost in 2014 was 34 million feet, or approximately 1.5 times the capacity of Utah's Great Salt Lake. The numbers also reveal that the current state of emergency for California's water supply has been in the making for more than a decade, with a slow decline in water reserves since 2002.

Famiglietti suggests that the state take immediate steps to ration water, as well as speed up any legislative action to preserve groundwater.

"Finally, the public must take ownership of this issue," Famiglietti said in his Op-Ed. "This crisis belongs to all of us — not just to a handful of decision-makers. Water is our most important, commonly owned resource, but the public remains detached from discussions and decisions."