The winners and the losers of the California water crisis
Friday, May 22, 2015 - 09:30
in Earth & Climate
A new article highlights the widening gap of inequality between the wealthy and the poor of California, specifically in relation to the State's current drought. The problem, it states, is two fold. First, California's water systems are described as "antiquated and dysfunctional" due to the State's reluctance to challenge "historic seniority" of water rights where corporate farmers can water thousands of acres of land at a subsidized federal cost without being required to report their groundwater usage, leaving a number of low-income communities with no water what so ever. Secondly, the authors say that those at the top level of society feel less compelled to change their behaviours when it comes to water conservation.