California is running out of water. Yet according to California water usages, this desert uses more water than any other state in America. Why is that? Its because this place is a natural desert where people water their lawns, grow their plants, wash their cars, and waste lots of water. Something needs to be done about this and fast, time is running out and this problem is growing, not shrinking.

One thing that is wasting a lot of water in California is Nestle’s water bottling. In Sacramento, Nestle is buying and bottling water from California. This bought water needs to stay in California. Ever since 2010 the plant has been producing bottles of water to sell. Whats weird is that not all the water stays in this state. Why take water from a state in a drought and sell it away? I don’t know but it angers others who are now protesting for their water. In the company’s defense, Nestle says 80% of the bottles stay in California and the amount of water  they bought isn’t a big number (less than 1%) (sacbee.com). Still, that water needs to stay in this drying desert little amount or not.

A bigger problem in California is agriculture. According to the Washington Post, around 80% of California’s water goes to agriculture. Because of that, this state is a lead producer of almonds, milk, and grapes. Unfortunately, things like almond trees require a lot of water. Eight percent of all of California’s water supplies go to almonds (almonds.com). Abcnews.go.com says that almonds in this desert consume 1.1 trillion gallons of water a year. Something needs to change. This non-native plant takes up too much water. Agriculture can’t be sustained if it’s going to leach from what little water California has left. Some say that CA needs to keep growing almonds and other plants because many of the countries food supplies rely on California’s produce because 99% of all almonds in America are from California. Still, I believe that there should be a cut on how much water can go to this parched state’s agriculture.

California is drying up. There is not a long future ahead because the LA times says “We have 12 to 18 months left of water supply”. That’s not long, not long at all. That is of course how much time California has left if the state expends water like it does now. Conserving water is the only option or we face water depletion. What’s cool is that you can do things to help. One thing is not to buy water bottles that came Nestle’s factory in Sacramento, another is to not water plants. What plants that can live here can live here but what can’t shouldn’t. Also, you take shorter showers and buy less water draining foods. These are things that can help California from drying up into some raisin of a state.