Parched: California's Climate Crisis

water we depend on it water is precious and you don't realize it until you don't have it critical for farmers every drop of water that we get we're using as wisely as we can and essential for wildlife whatever happens to the salmon happens to the people but our water is at risk this is one of the worst drought situations that i've ever seen now cbs news stations across california present a special report parched a climate crisis presented by california water service welcome i'm juliette goodrich and for the next hour we're going to take you up and down the state of california to show you what our warming climate is doing to our water and what we all can do about it california has a complex water system that keeps water flowing to our homes cities and farms but the system is outdated and no match for mother nature we begin our special from shasta lake it is the largest reservoir in california but take a look at what's happened where i'm standing used to be covered in blue water now it's just brown dirt dust and rocks the extreme drought has left our waters here in critically low levels the lake is like a big basin that's slowly draining leaving rings to show where the water used to be and just how dry are we take a look at where you live california remains in a severe to exceptional drought all that orange and red paints a bleak picture of what's called a hot drought stanford university's buzz thompson explains the definition of a hot drought is a drought where temperatures are above average those above average temperatures are almost certainly the result of climate change a long wet and cool winter could certainly help but as devin feely explains with a warming climate expect a whiplash of extremes as california heats up what's on the horizon could send shivers down your spine just ask climate scientist daniel swain i mean i think climate change is deadly serious we are sort of at a break glass moment swain is an expert in how a warming planet is shaping extreme weather events such as heat waves droughts floods and wildfires he says california is facing a future of extremes in california the wet periods are essentially getting wetter but the drier periods and that's most of the time those are getting drier as for how california can be both so wet and so dry look no further than the rising temperatures themselves they speed up evaporation leaving less water on the ground to flow into rivers streams and soil then that vapor ends up in the atmosphere fueling more powerful storms and leading to heavy rains and floods but it kind of feels like we're experiencing whiplash going rapidly from one extreme to another with pretty adverse consequences wildfires and droughts get much of the attention but swain says don't lose sight of the threat of the next big one not an earthquake but a mega flood a warming planet has already doubled the chances of catastrophic flooding sometime in the next 40 years while shasta lake counts on rainfall to fill it up most big reservoirs in california depend on melting snow but even mount shasta which normally sees snow-capped mountains year-round the snow has vanished last december we had a record-breaking snowfall in the sierra nevada nearly 18 feet so where did it all go madison keavey travels to donner pass to find out the sound of summer in the sierra during a drought not a roar but a burble what's abnormal is realistically just how dry our conditions have become over the last several years andrew schwartz is the lead scientist at the uc berkeley central sierra snow lab where all things climate weather snow and water are tracked and analyzed year round this was schwartz's view last winter at donner pass in the sierra it was the deepest december on record more than 200 inches of snow but in the long run it didn't help us a whole lot because january through march was was very dry for that time of year a snow spectacle in april wasn't enough to make up for an uncharacteristically early start to snow melt the first week of february we saw very warm temperatures extreme temperatures up here that really accelerated that warmth and then on top of it we didn't get any snow to replenish that melt a nasa satellite captured just how quickly the snow disappeared this image was taken in march at the seasonal peak compare it to may when snow cover was 7 percent of normal then july the snow packed down to essentially zero not all the snow that fell in that record-breaking december melted to fill streams lakes and rivers into the summer the reason sublimation snow melt that would have become water instead disappeared with sublimation it goes right from being ice to being water vapor in the atmosphere is it effectively removes a lot of our snow from the mountain that won't end up in our reservoirs when snow falls in areas ravaged by wildfire that process happens even faster fewer trees leads to increased wind speeds there aren't the same number of tree branches and pine needles to block the sunlight and that additional sunlight coming in in those burned forests means that it's going to help melt the snow faster schwartz said there's talk now that natural precipitation may not be able to be the savior for california that it once was less snow melt is ending up in our rivers and streams and that's setting off alarm bells in our already fragile waterway tom waits reports the colorado river begins with snow in the rocky mountains and ends by flowing into mexico along the way it irrigates farmland and provides fresh drinking water to 40 million people in seven states southern california farmer bart fisher is one of them i was born here and raised on the farm and yet every year there are new challenges that we've never faced before one challenge has been percolating for decades the colorado river is running dry the river is already chronically overused add to that a mega drought intensified by climate change this is the worst i think most have ever seen and one of the deepest droughts on record everybody in california should be concerned about what is happening with the colorado buzz thompson at stanford is a global expert on water he says the water levels at the river's two main reservoirs lake powell and lake mead are at historic lows any further drop and their dams could stop generating hydroelectric power that's clean energy that's the type of energy that we need in order to mitigate the impact of climate change lake mead is the nation's largest reservoir if it drops further that could crash the whole system if you can't get water through hoover dam i mean the whole desert southwest will dry up the colorado river supplies about a third of the water used in southern california if that water gets slashed cities and inland farms from ventura to san diego may be forced to look elsewhere all water in california is connected and so if you have less water available in southern california that can have ripple effects because of complicated legal reasons southern california may not take a hit right away that said all sources remain precious and right now with mother nature in charge and the drought worsening the future is uncertain our cbs meteorologists are tracking extreme weather events around our state nick mariano's out of sacramento the bay area's paul hagen and evelyn taft in los angeles they join us with an eye-opening report so we've seen these weather whiplash events worldwide but california is uniquely susceptible and even the different regions of california have their own unique vulnerabilities evelyn i want to start with you and you have to worry about the potential of if the drought breaks with an extreme rainfall event potentially it's just way too much rain all at the same time part of the weather whiplash phenomenon exactly and that's a big problem here because of course burn areas when you get a lot of rain or one cell for example sitting over one area for an extended period of time that could be a debris flow that could be a mudslide so of course we have a lot of fire here in southern california and we really have very dry conditions we have a lot of dry fuel and even if you get rain in between that the damage is still essentially done we still have that dry fuel so once the rain comes in still could happen that weather whiplash between an extreme fire situation and of course an extreme rain or of course debris flow yeah nick you've seen some of the same concerns around sacramento most recently in the burn scar of the caldor fire with rock slides and debris flows off of that i mean is there is that one of the particular areas that you're most interested in seeing how things change as the climate continues to change or is there another area of focus that you're kind of curious or worried about a few things yeah you know you hit that in the nail right on the head there especially anywhere where there's terrain where fires could be driven by wind that's going to be a big factor too but droughts are kind of in this feedback loop right we have the dry air you have all this fuel that fires can feed off of now the fires lead to burn scars which as you know when you get the thunderstorms during the monsoon season especially the eastern slope of the sierra especially you can get the the mudslides and debris flows we've seen a few of those already and in more to come but also when you think about the burn scars the high albedo from that tense and research has been showing this recently has led to lower snowfall amounts at least snowpack later into the season too unfortunately these types of extreme events are only going to become more common and potentially more severe thanks to the influence of climate change evelyn in los angeles nick in sacramento thank you very much for your time and your perspective [Music] from carrots stacked at your favorite grocery to that juicy burger on your plate without water there is no food california grows a lot of the nation's fruits nuts and vegetables and many of us buy directly from local growers and for them the drought is personal here's marcie gonzalez wander into any farmers market and the harvest is plentiful we don't use any chemicals it just naturally grown just ask eight-year-old pearl from dirty girl produce we have strawberries we have beets we have radishes we have broccoli california has more farmers markets than any other state most of the produce is organic and freshly picked love to eat seasonally just a nice way to get a sense for the diversity of produce we have in california despite this bounty the drought is squeezing california farmers stan devoto has grown heirloom apples for nearly 50 years like many farmers he's doing what he can to adapt we don't have enough surface water and we don't have enough well water to plant intensive orchards or orchards we use the old-fashioned standard root stock which is very very drought tolerant in california it turns out water is the most precious crop and at the more than 700 farmers markets across the state success depends on a well-hydrated future california is home to nearly 70 thousand farms and ranches in fact they grow more than 400 different commodities california agriculture is also a billion dollar industry and of all the water produced in the state 80 percent is used by farmers now the drought is putting many who grow food in california on edge a sixth generation farmer looks to the future and wonders about the water kenny choi now with some food for thought this crop has not had any water you can see cannon michael and his family have deep roots in the fertile fields of the central valley i'm extremely humbled and proud to see what the what the land can produce cannon manages the bowls family company 11 000 acres of farmland located outside of los banos in merced county his family has farmed for six generations we do both organic and conventional crops we do a lot of tomatoes we grow carrots garlic onions we do watermelons cantaloupes honeydews like most farmers cannon keeps an eye not only on the weather but on the water all this water here has been used upstream his farm is primarily irrigated with river water imported from northern california he says every drop counts i would say we don't waste water here at all cannon and his team have invested millions of dollars in water saving techniques that pumps winding up including drip irrigation on 80 percent of the farmed land to run the drip systems the team added clean power solar panels to offset the electrical demand 20 percent of the farm is now planted in wintertime to avoid the summer heat and the highest demand for water and to reduce evaporation and sequester carbon the farm makes its own compost from the green waste trucked in from nearby cities and towns we have quite a few people employed who actually sift through since people don't want to work do the work themselves that said cannon remains concerned for his farm his employees and for california the state's water systems are aging outdated and in deep trouble infrastructure investments haven't gone along at the same pace of the population growth and the climate is warming faster than anticipated keeps you up at night and you wonder what the future is going to hold and how we're going to continue it's a scary time the dwindling water supplies have forced many farmers to lay off workers and reduce the amount of food they grow as for cannon michael he's trying to conserve as much water as possible as water becomes more scarce some of these farms may not survive well now there's a new program to return these lands to the wild adrian moore takes a closer look this withered and water starved cornfield is a snapshot of some of the farmland of the future and i always say we're a poster child for this issue because we're not doing it right we're taking too much water out of the ground yeah if you went out to michael hagman is the executive director of the linmore irrigation district he also owns this 160 acre plot of fallowed ag land land he could soon be paid to take out of production under the multi-benefit land repurposing program controlled by the department of conservation with those 10 million dollar grants regents can begin to collaboratively plan for how they want to repurpose land and begin to provide payments to farmers to voluntarily implement those repurposing projects on their properties among those types of repurposing projects is what some experts refer to as rewilding or restoring land to its native habitat it's a bold approach that could make a big dent in the drought studies estimate that upwards of a million acres of farmland are going to come out of production in the next 20 years or so in order to balance our ground water supplies and adopt a climate change while the idea of repurposing agland is still taking shape here in tulare county it's already showing promise about 150 miles north with the largest floodplain restoration project in california at dos rios ranch we've saved hundreds of thousands of gallons of water every single year simply through the actions of this project this native vegetation julie retner is the president of the conservation organization river partners which bought this 2100 acre former dairy ranch outside of modesto where alfalfa and winter wheat was also grown and transformed it with thousands of native grasses shrubs and trees it conserves water by reducing how much of apple transpiration actually happens here right when you transfer lands from kind of thirsty crops into more drought tolerant native plants after more than a decade of work and millions in funding dos rios has also restored a booming ecosystem for salmon rabbits and migratory birds increased biodiversity provides a variety of ecosystem services that to the degree that we restore habitat that that restored habitat can do everything from reducing flood risks to sequestering carbon that's essential back into larry county michael hagman admits he's anxious yet optimistic knowing such a dramatic shift in farmland use is an adjustment but one that can ensure land viability for future generations we know it's going to be difficult we've got to make changes [Music] you can see california water from our rivers and streams and lakes but one of our most valuable supplies is hidden from view and right under our feet california groundwater is stored in hundreds of aquifers around the state in a wet year it provides 40 percent of california's water supply but in a drought 60 percent gets pumped out in some parts of the central valley so much water is taken out the ground is actually sinking wilson walker looks at a fix the perception is that the canal is just going down into a hole but it's the whole region around here that's that's kind of settling in and it doesn't and a lot of people don't really look at it that way because the the grapes aren't any lower and the pistachios are lower on the canal well what you know the canal the bridges the fields everything in this part of talari county is settling wednesday thursday try to bring everything down and the settling has upended this region's lifeline the fryant kern canal where much of it no longer flows downhill to convey this water south through this section we've lost over 60 percent of the carrying capacity so every four years we we drain this canal the entire 152 miles for routine maintenance and what happens in this area now is when we drain it we still have eight foot of water left in this canal just sitting there that we have to get rid of when they built this canal in 1949 they knew the ground was sinking but by the drought of the mid 70s things had gotten so bad that entire portions had to be rebuilt the concrete skirt was raised up by six feet the pipes were elbowed upwards so the bridges could be maxed out and then by the drought of 2015 and 16 it was clear that even all of that was not going to be enough so the idea was to parallel it and build a new canal next to it now under construction the first 10-mile phase of the new friend kern canal you don't really realize how big some of these waterways are until you're standing either they're building them or they're empty the 300 million dollar job paid for by the state will sit a full 12 feet above the old canal and there will be no bridges engineers know this land will continue to sink yeah that's just the world we live in we know that's going to happen so we had to design something that we could work with but the canal doesn't just deliver surface water to farmers and residents this region is trying to build on its groundwater recharge efforts those simply cannot get water if the canal doesn't work the the key to mitigating this this problem is to getting as much underground storage and recharge as we can imagine turning on your tap and no clean drinking water comes out tony lopez looks into the growing number of domestic wells going dry in the drought revving the engine and kicking up dust this shiny red truck never looks so good to linda reese after all it's carrying liquid gold we get 2500 gallons a week once a week this long time school teacher who lives just outside of clovis california near fresno has water trucked onto her property from a group called self-help that provides water to communities that no longer have fresh drinking water self-help has never been busier so far this year it's brought water to 1100 homes in nine different counties covering an area about the size of kansas fill in your dust bowl comparison here linda's land was hardly dusty just a few years ago there was lawn everywhere all the way out to the pine tree you see over that way that was grass you know we just we were living a california style life now her family lives a life week to week a delicate dance with a drought carefully tracking how much water they use we have some water that goes in from our wells so then we switch over use some of that until they come again on wednesday and we have to be very careful at that point as the water flows linda knows this is no luxury but a necessity a drought-borne delivery she can't live without the memories of what was are painful almost everything that was planted back then is gone it's been bad for years but linda reached the end of the line last summer running out of water nearly every day for five or six hours she spent a small fortune paying to have wells drilled they all came up dry she had to fork over the cash whether they hit water or not the water flowing onto her parched land stretching over cracks and rocks and dirt symbolizes the fingers of our lingering drought leaving water refugees like linda reese on an island a parched slice of what was once a lush paradise so as the drought and climate change threaten more extreme weather events there is a new strategy emerging to help the groundwater problem the idea to harness flood water from heavy rains and snow and redirect that water to fill up the parched aquifers [Music] shasta lake in fact all of california is overflowing with wildlife each and every creature needs water to thrive and survive but there's growing concern the drought is impacting at least one important wildlife habitat rice fields about 95 percent of california's rice is grown in the sacramento valley these fields provide a critical stop for migratory birds as they travel along the pacific flyway but water shortages are leaving rice fields unplanted and there's emerging evidence the birds are struggling and stressed what comes to mind to me is the thousands and millions of birds arriving from the arctic as we speak who many of which depend on the rice now uh because that is where most of their habitat comes from these days in the central valley and they're in search of a safe place to rest and refuel and there's very little of it out there at chester dam another important creature is endangered shasta dam was built to deliver water to thirsty cities and farms but the dam 15 tons of concrete blocked california chinook salmon from returning to spawn in the cold waters of the mcleod river now a dramatic experiment may help pull these fish back from the brink of extinction wilson walker treks to the historic site it's always been on our hearts and minds to bring the salmon back to the cloud because we believe that you know whatever happens to salmon happens to us for colleen sisk and her winnimum went to tribe this was a grand moment personally helping a new generation of winter run chinook towards the mcleod river eggs that will become the first salmon to reach these waters since shasta dam was built more than 80 years ago yeah so winter wrench and nook have a very narrow temperature range they like it below 56 degrees and with changing climate conditions this is one of the places that should be their stronghold and we're going to try and make it that again the first batch of 20 thousand eggs had just gotten started when the team faced a sudden and dramatic change in river conditions brian krimpasky who was camped out here in case of emergency had to come up with an overnight turbidity fix and the eggs were saved oh see yeah he's wiggling push about three weeks later and those first eggs are starting to look like little salmon they were eggs they've all hatched now they're alvin's basically a small fish attached to a yolk sac the second batch of 20 000 eggs was actually delivered by helicopter the concern being the very rough ride down to this location the eggs were spared bumping down that road you know and that that they will be healthier all that care and caution speaks to the dire situation facing these fish by selecting family groups from the hatchery here and moving those into the mcleod we're sort of spreading the risk of extinction across the landscape taylor lipscomb manages the national fish hatchery at the base of shasta dam these fish are where the mccloud eggs came from winter run chinook generally mature at three years old this hatchery has almost quadrupled its output since the start of the drought trying to support an already endangered population now struggling to spawn in warm water so what that means functionally is that we're losing the genetic diversity of the entire run unless we take these types of actions so what happens next well the juvenile chinook that are released into the mcleod here will eventually be trapped down river and then released below keswick dam so they can make a swim to the pacific this is the first time this has been tried in california or on this scale a lot of hope riding on these eggs and so if the salmon gets to come home you know maybe there'll be a place for the one of them people too to come home the tribe's quest to restore the fish does not end with this experiment in 2010 chief sisk and the tribe traveled to new zealand where they saw descendants of california chinook salmon thriving in the cold mountain streams they learned how at the turn of the century the u.s government took wild salmon eggs from the mccloud river and shipped them around the world if the incubation experiment works the tribe wants to bring these eggs back to california incubate them and find a new path back to the mcleod [Music] you might have heard how whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting well a war is brewing in the california delta a controversial plan would divert water from the sacramento river and ship it through a giant tunnel to farms and cities including silicon valley fresno and southern california state officials say the project modernizes an aging system but for those who live in the delta a battle is brewing we're all about protecting it and we think l.a has you know they'll never have enough water they'll always want more and we think we would like them not to take any more some california crops need a lot of water the question is should we grow them in a drought and one more question should foreign entities benefit evelyn taft enters the fray it's just nine in the morning in eastern riverside county's palo verde valley are you down on 24th avenue jack seiler's work day is halfway over hopefully those will stick in this desert farming community on the arizona border daytime temperatures routinely exceed 100 degrees fortunately for his business cotton likes the heat so does alfalfa jack grows it too thousands of acres once mature it's mowed bailed and prepared for shipping this batch it's headed to a dairy outside baker's field they're coming after it it's a hot commodity the last thing you do is give water to farmers to waste it by growing stuff in the desert that should never be grown chris thornberg of uc riverside is an economist his gripe with siler's farm and others here the amount of water they use jack's farm borders the colorado river the land his family has owned since 1967 came with the right to use as much river water as needed to grow whatever crops he chooses bart fisher is also an alfalfa grower in blight my grandfather settled here 104 years ago at a time when the federal government wanted to feed and populate the west our forefathers built a series of irrigation canals staking a claim on colorado river water in western water law you have first in use first in right imperial and palo verde county farmers were first to lay claim to the river's water meaning they are the last to be impacted by water restrictions bart and jack sell the bulk of the hay they grow to dairy farms in california and arizona when you open the next cup of yogurt some of that in there came from alfalfa the idea that these guys need to grow hay in the desert to feed livestock is again nonsensical thornberg points out 16 percent of alfalfa grown here are shipped all the way to saudi arabia where the crop is banned because of water shortages there i will not agree that we should allow saudi arabian cows and horses a higher deference to our own environment saudi livestock aside up to 80 percent of colorado river water is currently used for agriculture given the mega drought we're in thornburg says that's too much we over allocate this incredibly scarce resource across users on the basis of 100 year old contracts thornberg's solution grow these crops in cooler wetter states and send the water saved to southern california cities you can say well the maybe the alfalfa should all be produced in arkansas then what do you do with the local dairies that are spread all over california [Music] we're first priority right here and we're hoping that you know that means something you owned a hunk of land for 50 years okay i bought a hunk of land in los angeles and damn it i think i should be able to grow grass in my front yard how are my rights any less important than yours some farmers want to take a shot with a more drought resistant crop it's a blue plant used to produce tequila agave traditionally grown in mexico and used for making tequila is now proving to be an ideal crop for california's water strapped fields we're growing agave here with one tenth or less the water that we were using to grow olives that were previous in this field once established they can keep growing with almost no water at all there's one catch it will take about six years before the plants are big enough to harvest climate change is threatening california's world famous wines but growers vintners and researchers are fighting back with technology elizabeth cook heads to napa a severe drought rising temperatures and major fires all threatened to disrupt a california treasure i'm in the heart of wine country behind me these vines make some of the best cab in the world but those in the industry are worried that our changing climate is going to impact their future we're way past deciding whether or not it's real or not we can see it how has climate change impacted your crops oh dramatically andy beckstoffer of napa is the largest grape grower in northern california we've never seen drought like this steve mathiason is a celebrated winemaker both see the dangers of climate change and like many in the valley are determined to fight back fighting fire worrying about fire what are we going to do about it at their disposal some innovative strategies tested on this 40 acre vineyard run by uc davis we are forward thinkers the researchers and the industry are working together and we're thinking of ways to control the environment as much as we can teams are studying various root stocks to see which ones are the most drought and heat resistant rows of vines are planted in a different direction to avoid direct sun and layers of leaves as well as artificial shades canopy the fruit in an attempt to keep the clusters cooler what it also provides is i know it lessens the amount of water being evaporated from the soil and the vineyard another challenge wildfires burning wood creates tiny compounds that can seep into grapes if i have a drought condition i'll lose a part of my harvest with the smoke i can lose the whole damn thing researchers are working on sensors to detect these compounds on vineyards they're also working on ways to filter them out of tainted grapes flavor development andy and steve are ready to adapt we know that we need to implement technology to adapt so that we can continue to have a healthy business and make world-class wines 25 years from now when governor newsome announced new plans to address a hotter drier california he took a swig of freshly treated delta water there's a lot more abundance out there if we're more creative in terms of how we approach things as fresh drinking water supplies are being threatened new ways of creating and recycling water are gaining attention all eyes are on san diego the region is home to the nation's largest desalination plant which creates 50 million gallons of fresh water every day in addition one district is turning waste water into drinking water using state-of-the-art technology i think at some point we're going to stop talking about droughts and we're just going to talk about our dry hot climate and that is the world that we live in and when you look at it from that standpoint you make different decisions you make long-term investments we cannot conserve our way out of dry hydrology recycling water can also keep our lawns lush and green meteorologist amber lee shows us how a lush green yard plenty of water yet an affordable bill 160 dollars for a two-month period one man that makes it possible to grow so much in the midst of this terrible drought coming through lee gerard a water recycler i love getting dirty this is my workplace i spend a lot of time in these crawl spaces lee's checking the condition of a setup he designed it's called a gray water system the water in this catch basin under the house came from the washing machine drain up above as you can see the water is a little bit gray it's what lee calls gently used while you wouldn't want to drink it the plants are going to love it and to be honest the trees don't need drinking water to get gray water to the yard from a laundry sink or shower lee has to reroute the drains start cutting pipes redirecting bathtubs showers laundry to the gray water system instead of to the sewer instead of sprinklers gray water is directed into emitter stations like this one buried in wood chip mulch the wood tips act as a living filter that's going to allow the greywater to percolate out and get into the root systems of the trees gray water systems aren't for everyone because installers need access to the drain they're not for homes built on concrete slabs that encase the pipes finally the more water you're conserving inside the less gray water you'll have for your yard justin moore a devout watermiser supplements his gray water by collecting rainwater the result on his hillside yard near downtown l.a we're growing about a hundred different types of edible foods here the things that typically would take a lot of water but because we're just reusing it's actually using less water than probably most people are putting on their plants that they don't do anything with [Music] in this hotter drier climate california is expected to lose 10 percent of its water in the next 20 years that's more water than what lake shasta can hold and while your home is not a lake a leaky pipe can waste thousands of gallons of water a year alex biston meets up with a leak detective heat maps meter exams sound signatures it's all in a day's work for a lake detective each job it's like a puzzle ron ben nyem investigates water leaks we find lakes underground we have a pipe right here somewhere hidden water leaks give telltale clues but the source can be hard to locate even when the leak makes noise the sound can be deceptive when there is a pinhole leak in a copper pipe it sounds like a very high pitch hissing and that hissing because it's copper pipe it travels throughout the whole line and sometimes you hear it in the walls when the leak is actually underground a very small pinhole league can be thousands of gallons a day because it's under pressure even a seemingly minor leak can rob you dry just one drip per second leaking from the faucet can waste more than 3 000 gallons of water per year that's enough water for over 200 showers a leak in your sprinklers can waste more than 2 400 gallons a month enough to fill a backyard pool a running toilet can waste more than 1.4 million gallons a year enough to fill two olympic sized swimming pools to find out if you have a hidden lake turn off everything open your meter and look inside there's a little leak detector indicator and if that thing is spinning typically you would have a leak in the house by eliminating leaks in your home you'll not only save money you'll be part of a bigger solution one that leaves more water available to help cool down our climate saving water doesn't have to be hard here's kit doe from the kitchen three quick tips to save water and fight the drought we've all been there before right not paying attention you make a big mess and then you're left wondering if the three second rule applies to ice cubes for ice cubes that fall on the ground do not throw them away come on what are you doing they're still good you can put them inside your plants if you're cooking pasta save that water it's at least a couple gallons but do not add salt more on that later drought busting tip number three a lot of experienced home cooks already do this one just skip the serving bowl all together and bring the pot right to your family and save yourself the trouble of having to do one more dish bon appetit that pasta water you can take it out to your veggie garden and dump it on the plants they seem to like the extra starch remember the pasta water has to be unsalted which i know is sacrilegious to some chefs but hey fighting the drought was never going to be easy perhaps the best way to save water is to not take it for granted one young woman is showing others one step at a time justin andrews has her story on june 28 nina gordon kirsh packed up provisions laced up her shoes and with her dog petey began an amazing journey i am setting out on a very long walk a 240 mile walk from my house here in oakland to the headwaters of the mccullumy river her goal to bring awareness to where water comes from at a time when it's threatened by severe drought and climate change my mom and my brother made this flag for me and i'm carrying it so people start asking the question where does your water come from we need change right now in our water systems in california it's very obvious i think it's great what she's doing bringing out awareness nida made her way up san francisco bay to the delta through the central valley and along the mccullum 32 days after leaving home nina arrived at her final destination the highland lakes near the summit of ebbets pass she threw off her pack and with petey sprinted across the meadow she arrived at the headwaters overcome with emotion i feel great unbelievably on hand to greet nina her support team including her parents she did it i couldn't be more proud of her a film crew documented her journey the movie will be used in public schools maybe this type of film will inspire them to get out and see the water source or maybe just when they turn the tap on they have a picture of highland lakes or of the mccollumy river all of our drinking water comes from mother nature but it might not always be there to meet our demands as nina says it's important to protect every source before we go let's check back in with our weather team for some final thoughts and back with our cbs california weather roundtable one last question for both of you and evelyn we'll start with you in los angeles what is it about the changing climate and its impact in your part of california that kind of keeps you up at night paul it has to be fires really my biggest concern is having a longer term drought has created significant dry fuel which creates a much more explosive fire weather situation of course here in southern california and for you across the state nick in sacramento same question what's your greatest concern it's the exact same thing a very passionate i spent years a few years as a firefighter it has to do with the fires especially mega fires and seeing an increased uptake of those because those can spread so fast especially at night and we've seen some devastating effects of those already and from our perspective in the bay area we worry about that but also about flooding with atmospheric rivers and there are always going to be the things that we're not thinking about that also have to keep us up at night evelyn in los angeles nick in sacramento thank you both very much for your time we leave you now from shasta lake where water reminds us no matter how majestic every drop counts on behalf of cbs stations in california i'm juliette goodrich [Music] you

Channel: KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA

Views: 299,281

Keywords: California Drought 2021, Environment, Drought, Climate Change

Id: nRD1SZ1HWJQ

Length: 44min 24sec (2664 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 01 2022