California has a mediterranean climate. It is normal for most of the state to receive no significant rainfall May-October and for streams and rivers, especially in the coastal range, to run dry by late summer.
Are you native Californian perchance? Everyone I meet from here seems to not mind the drought too much(although it seems very serious this time, boy cried wolf-type situation).
I'm not a farmer with junior water rights, so no I'm not concerned.
Even in dry years as we are experiencing now, California has more than enough water for domestic use. Some communities, especially those dependent on small local reservoirs, may run into trouble if the drought continues for several years, but California has dealt with this successfully in the past, most recently in the 1976-1977 drought[1].
The people who really need to worry are farmers, especially those without senior water rights. Many farmers in the state have moved from producing row crops, where fields can be left fallow in dry years, to orchard crops like almonds which still need irrigation during a drought. I don't have a lot of sympathy for almond farmers in Bakersfield. Here's a thought: maybe an area of the state with average rainfall of 6" a year isn't a good place for an almond orchard. The drought might actually be a good thing if it forces some of those farmers to move back to row crops. It may also finally force California to regulate groundwater pumping. Unrestricted pumping leads to subsidence[2] and kills off native vegetation by lowering the permanent water table below where the roots of valley oak and other drought adapted plants can reach.
Governor Brown has also been fanning the flames a little to sell the public on his delta tunnel plan. He used a similar tactic during the 1976-1977 drought to try and sell the peripheral canal.
