New government maps present practically all of the West is in drought and it is not even summer season but: “This is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented transfer, Southern California officers declared a water shortage emergency and requested roughly 6 million residents to limit all out of doors watering to just as soon as every week.  

"We knew climate change would stress our water provides and we've been preparing for it but we didn't know it will occur this fast," stated Gloria Gray, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Administrators.  

The most recent authorities maps present practically the entire West is in drought, and 95% of California is struggling severe or extreme drought.

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

California isn't alone as reservoirs across the West are draining.  

Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir within the nation formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, needs a brand new pump to make sure water can move to Las Vegas. 

"The issue with climate change is that it takes all the historic patterns and form of shifts them," NASA scientist Dr. JT Reager advised CBS News' Ben Tracy. 

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

"We're simply starting to see the dominoes fall. It is drier, we're starting to see less water in our reservoirs, and we've got fires, and in California, there's simply this sequence of consequences that we anticipate," stated Reager.