New authorities maps show almost all the West is in drought and it isn’t even summer season yet: “That is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented transfer, Southern California officers declared a water scarcity emergency and requested roughly 6 million residents to limit all outside watering to simply as soon as a week.  

"We knew climate change would stress our water provides and we have been preparing for it but we did not know it might occur this fast," mentioned Gloria Gray, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors.  

The most recent authorities maps show almost the entire West is in drought, and 95% of California is suffering extreme or extreme drought.

"This is actual. That is serious. That is unprecedented," stated Adel Hagekhalil, basic manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  

California isn't alone as reservoirs across the West are draining.  

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the nation fashioned by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, wants a new pump to make sure water can circulation to Las Vegas. 

"The problem with local weather change is that it takes all of the historical patterns and form of shifts them," NASA scientist Dr. JT Reager told CBS Information' Ben Tracy. 

Reager said the West is in a 22-year megadrought, as climate change makes it hotter and drier. 

"We're simply beginning to see the dominoes fall. It is drier, we're starting to see much less water in our reservoirs, and we now have fires, and in California, there's just this series of consequences that we anticipate," said Reager.