9 Photos that Show the Impact of the Great Drought in the West
Views of arid days in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

Napa Grapevines in Dry Ground, April 2015
The California drought, which is entering its fourth year, has reduced water supplies to some vineyards. Smaller growers specializing in grapes for wines priced at $7 or less a bottle have been particularly hard hit, according to NBC News. Grapevines tolerate dry conditions better than some other crops, but they could eventually stop producing fruit if the water table drops too low or soil gets too salty from lack of rain.
(Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters)

Artificial Lake, Indio, California, April 2015
Homes with green lawns ring a vivid blue artificial lake in Indio, the site of the annual Coachella music festival. But the land just beyond the neighborhood has been bleached by sun and drought.
(Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Billboard Advertising Artificial Turf, Cathedral City, California, April 2014
This billboard near Palm Springs makes a hard-to-resist case for replacing a withered lawn with fake grass: Your puppy dog will love it.
(Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Golf Course in La Quinta, near Palm Springs, California, April 2015
Per-person water use in Palm Springs is 736 gallons a day, according to state data—five times the 152 gallons a day per person in Los Angeles. This isn’t because residents are especially thirsty or obsessed with taking showers; it’s because the region is awash in golf courses, green lawns, and backyard pools. Under the state’s recently proposed emergency conservation rules, desert cities that are heavy water users may have to cut consumption by 35 percent.
(Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Boats Grounded by Drought at Castaic Lake, California, April 2015
At Castaic Lake, a checkmark-shaped state reservoir north-northwest of Los Angeles, swimming beaches will be closed all summer due to the drought. The lake is normally fed by melting mountain snowpack. But with the state’s snowpack at a record-setting low this year, the lake’s water level won’t recover anytime soon.
In 2014, Castaic Lake fell so low that a fisherman found a backpack, badge, and handgun stuck in the lake-bottom mud. They turned out to be items a federal agent had lost overboard in 1992, the Los Angeles Times reported.
(Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Ducks on Dry Lake Bed, Ojai, California, April 2015
These ducks took a recent walk near a derelict boat ramp on the bed of Lake Casitas, near Ojai. The man-made lake has dropped halfway, reported the Ventura County Star—the lowest it’s been since the 1970s. In 2005, Lake Casitas was full.
(Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Low Water at Lake Powell, Arizona, April 2015
A pale line along the cliff face reveals how low water levels have dropped in Lake Powell, behind the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona. The lake, which is fed by the Colorado River, is below 50 percent of its capacity.
Around 40 million people in the U.S. West get water from the Colorado River Basin, which has been struggling with drought for 15 years.
(Photo: Jum Urquhart/Reuters)

Low Water in Lake Mead at the Hoover Dam, Nevada-Arizona Border, April 2015
Lake Mead, like Lake Powell, is part of the Colorado River Basin. Lake Mead is at only 40 percent of its water capacity, according to KQED Public Radio—the lowest level since the Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s.
(Photo: Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

Desalinization Plant Under Construction, California
Many California coastal communities are turning to desalinization plants (also called reverse osmosis plants) to ensure more secure freshwater supply in the future, reported NPR. But it’s not a perfect solution, as the plants are expensive to build and the process is energy-hungry. Environmentalists fear that the presence of more desalinization plants will encourage even more development in California, which is arguably maxing out on just how many homes, businesses, and farms its water supplies can sustain alongside its wildlife and natural areas.
(Photo: Mike Blake/Reuters)

7 Wild Animals Struggling to Survive California’s Extreme Drought
Humans are not alone in reeling from the effects of the multiyear drought now searing California and other Western states. Wilderness areas that many animals call home are seeing reductions in plant life and available freshwater. These tough conditions are forcing some creatures to range farther in search of sustenance—sometimes into urban areas. Others are simply dying off.