In what could be the first signs of a catastrophic drought on the west coast, some serious questions are raised. Is California prepared to face one of the worst droughts in history?
    The last drought of this magnanitude that hit California was reported in 1884, reports suggest.  
    The New York Times, in a report on Sunday, said with no sign of rain, 17 rural communities providing water to 40,000 people are in danger of running out within 60 to 120 days. State officials said the number was likely to rise in the months ahead after the State Water Project, the main municipal water distribution system, announced on Friday it did not have enough water to supplement the dwindling supplies of local agencies that provide water to an additional 25 million people. It is the first time the project has turned off its spigot in its 54-year history.
   “This is the most serious drought we’ve faced in modern times,” Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, told the Associated Press. “We need to conserve what little we have to use later in the year, or even in future years.”
   In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama mentioned the drought when he said, “We have to act with more urgency because a changing climate is already harming western communities struggling with drought and coastal cities dealing with floods.”
  California Governor Jerry Brown said at a press conference last week the state’s dry spell could turn into a mega-drought.
  “Make no mistake … this drought is a big wake-up call and a reminder that we do depend on natural systems,” Brown said.
   Crystal Bergman, PhD candidate at the National Drought Mitigation Center at University of Nebraska-Lincoln who researches drought management, said the drought in California caused 2013 to be the driest year on record for a large portion of the state.
 “Drought often does not get the media attention that other natural hazards receive because it often develops and subsides slowly, and impacts are usually non-structural, making them difficult to quantify. Drought does tend to be more costly than other natural hazards, however, due to its often large spatial extent and far-reaching impacts,” Bergman said.
  The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook expects the drought to persist and possibly intensify at least through the end of April.
   There are two important distinctions to be made in this story — first is the media coverage and second is the public awareness. Few may link up the two of these, but there are important independent questions to be asked. Does the media cover this crisis on the scale that it should, and are the Californians aware of the crisis that has hit home?
   In my early days in the United States, coming from a country where in some parts people walk a few miles to get their daily drinking water, I was appalled by reading a line in every restroom, “American Standard, a gallon per flush.” Is now the time for the world hegemon to rethink the environment-friendly sustainable choices?
    A “Voice of America” report on Jan. 27 said a drought such as the one in California has a greater impact now than it did 50 years ago because of the growth in population and economic development. The state is the biggest food producer in the U.S. in terms of dollars of produce sold.
    The White House said the National Drought Resilience Partnership coordinates the federal response amd the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Agriculture Department are involved in the effort.
   In the coming weeks, we can expect a few communities to run out of water. Seventeen of them are very close to being out-of-water. As a nation, we can pray for rain in California along with closing the running water tap and conserving water wherever possible. The rest of it remains out of human control or reach.