New government maps show practically all the West is in drought and it’s not even summer time 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 outdoor watering to only once every week.  

"We knew climate change would stress our water provides and we have been preparing for it but we did not know it might occur this fast," mentioned Gloria Gray, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors.  

The most recent government maps present nearly all the West is in drought, and 95% of California is suffering extreme or excessive drought.

"That is actual. That is serious. That is unprecedented," said Adel Hagekhalil, general manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  

California isn't 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, wants 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 mentioned the West is in a 22-year megadrought, as local weather change makes it hotter and drier. 

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