New government maps present almost all of the West is in drought and it is not even summer season yet: “That is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented transfer, Southern California officers declared a water scarcity emergency and requested roughly 6 million residents to limit all outdoor watering to just once per week.  

"We knew local weather change would stress our water supplies and we've been getting ready for it however we did not know it would occur this fast," mentioned Gloria Gray, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Administrators.  

The newest government maps present practically the entire West is in drought, and 95% of California is suffering severe or extreme drought.

"This is real. That is serious. This is unprecedented," stated Adel Hagekhalil, common supervisor for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  

California is just not alone as reservoirs throughout the West are draining.  

Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in the nation shaped by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, needs a brand new pump to ensure water can flow to Las Vegas. 

"The issue with local weather change is that it takes all of the historic patterns and type of shifts them," NASA scientist Dr. JT Reager instructed CBS Information' Ben Tracy. 

Reager mentioned the West is in a 22-year megadrought, as local weather change makes it hotter and drier. 

"We're simply beginning to see the dominoes fall. It's drier, we're beginning to see much less water in our reservoirs, and we now have fires, and in California, there's just this sequence of penalties that we anticipate," said Reager.