Photo and Story By Juliana Bledsoe

California is dry and everyone is freaking out. Rightfully so. Last year was the driest year in recorded history for many parts of California, according to the California Department of Water Resources, and 2014 is not looking much better. Governor Jerry Brown has declared an emergency state of drought and citizens are advised to “conserve water in every way possible.”

Public officials are already discussing water rations in the coming months, and residents are draining swimming pools and scrapping their gardening plans. The vast network of agricultural enterprises in the state are in uproar over restricted water allocations and many must struggle to figure out how to irrigate crops and cattle this season. In case you didn’t know, California produces nearly half of the fruits, nuts and vegetables consumed in the United States, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Even the marijuana industry is in trouble as growers will not be able to ensure a steady flow of water to their plants. As was pointed out by a recent Mother Jones article, “The only thing green about that bud is its chlorophyll,” because during the California growing season, outdoor pot growing operations alone consume “roughly 60 million gallons of water a day — 50 percent more than is used by all the residents of San Francisco.”

This is all kind of a big deal. Every digital road sign throughout the entire state pushes the glaring message: “Severe drought. Help conserve water.”

Meanwhile though, there is an inexplicable air that we are above this emergency here. Nevadans almost seem to be scoffing at our neighbors from across the Sierras. “Haha, you pretentious yuppies! What will you make your green smoothies with now?”

Well, I hate to break it to you, but this is our problem too. Plus, I like green smoothies too, so please, for the sake of organic baby spinach, let’s be reasonable here.

Yes, we live in a desert, so we’re kind of used to this. But what makes living in the desert tolerable — especially through the extreme fire seasons? Water.

Furthermore, our agricultural production may pale in comparison to that of our sunny sister state, but people do grow things here; the greater Nevada and our local Great Basin food shed are in trouble too. The entire state of Nevada has been listed as a federal primary natural disaster area as of January, and the notable alfalfa and dairy industries are already in jeopardy.

There is only one possible benefit I can see to this tragedy, and that will be more beach at Lake Tahoe this year. So not worth it, my friends. The devastation is likely to be pretty extreme if things don’t get better, and fast.

The situation was made scarily apparent to me when I went camping at Stampede reservoir recently and stumbled to the shore in the morning to find that it had receded about 50 yards down the rocky drop-off. The Boca and Stampede reservoirs are pretty much the oh-shit water for the Truckee Meadows in times of drought, so my immediate response upon seeing them both so empty? Oh shit.

So what’s left to do but pray for a miracle and prepare for the worst? Anything helps at this point. I can tell you that ignoring the problem will only make it worse.

Sure, the drought police aren’t going to show up and water board you if you take that extra bath or super long shower. However, that guilty feeling you should have afterward is warranted because we all play a part and each one of us can make a difference. Smoky the bear was right on this one. So even though we don’t have Amber Alert signs like in California, and even though Nevada doesn’t produce 99 percent of the country’s artichokes, I have a message for you:

“Severe drought. Help conserve water.”

Juliana Bledsoe studies journalism and Spanish. She can be reached at bledsoe7@sagebrush.unr.edu.