Recently, out at the Home Depot parking lot Spanish/English language exchange, I had a conversation with a man who insisted, “California is not facing a drought.” He said that he knows what a drought is; he was in Mexico a few years back when there was a drought. He explained that we will know that we are in a drought when we have to travel ten or more miles for five gallons of water. When those five gallons of water will have to serve us for an entire week of drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing, and…. That’s a real drought. Here, we can turn on the faucet and waste gallons from the comfort of our own home. There’s no drought, he persisted. The neighbors’ lawns are still green, the city has only cut watering by 20%. No drought. He will know a real drought when he sees it.
