2024-11-21T21:00:58-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/135055228/how-is-water-used-in-california Amelia Taylor-Hochberg 2015-08-25T12:12:00-04:00 >2018-01-30T06:16:04-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/v3/v3dgbi66badrecmg.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>No California resident can claim ignorance of the current drought conditions: things are bad, and they'll probably stay that way for a while. <a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/124294140/california-governor-mandates-water-restrictions" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Governor Jerry Brown called for statewide water restrictions earlier this year</a>, and news coverage of <a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/122813531/california-has-about-one-year-of-water-left" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dwindling supplies</a>, <a href="http://archinect.com/news/article/133953060/california-drought-sucks-san-jose-s-guadalupe-river-dry" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">dry rivers</a> and sinking farmland have flooded the local and national media for months. While the drought is on every Californian&rsquo;s mind in some way, it can still be hard to imagine the sheer physical extent of our water: where it comes from, and how exactly we use it. Making drought conditions tangible can be difficult for anyone, in or out of California.</p><p>In the final week of Archinect&rsquo;s open call for submissions to our <a href="http://dryfutures.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Dry Futures</strong></a> competition, we&rsquo;ve compiled some helpful stats and figures for better understanding water use in California. These are basic numbers, intended to be used as a framing context for how water flows through the state. But first, let&rsquo;s clarify some <strong>water-based terminology</strong>, courtesy of the <a href="http://water.usgs.gov/edu/dictionary.html#S" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">US Geological S...</a></p>