New authorities maps present nearly all the West is in drought and it is not even summer time but: “This is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented transfer, Southern California officials declared a water shortage emergency and asked roughly 6 million residents to restrict all outside watering to simply as soon as per week.  

"We knew local weather change would stress our water supplies and we have been getting ready for it but we did not know it would happen this quick," mentioned Gloria Gray, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Administrators.  

The latest government maps show practically the entire West is in drought, and 95% of California is suffering severe or excessive drought.

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

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

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

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

Reager stated the West is in a 22-year megadrought, as climate change makes it hotter and drier. 

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