A parched farm town is sinking, and so are its residents' hearts (LA Times)

We've had droughts before. They may have been as bad. I was younger and maybe unaware. I just don't remember it ever being this bad.

I'm in Southern California and the conditions here are just awful. So very dry. It's really something I have never experienced before.

Floods, tornadoes and hurricanes get a lot of press attention. They are dramatically devastating.

Our drought is just slow, not very photogenic, really ugly. There are no falling houses, just ailing trees and dried grass.

Today, we went for a walk in the evening. A woman was out spraying down her empty garbage cans. My husband and I were horrified to watch the wasted water trickle down the street. Why would anyone worry about washing their garbage cans in the middle of a drought. That we had that thought shows you how bad the drought is.

Some people are even saving water by flushing their toilets less frequently. Our plumber seems to have reduced the amount of water that flows into ours after each flush.

Like I said, a drought is not dramatic, not photogenic. Ours could get a lot worse, but most of the country will never even know that it is happening. Even in LA some people seem to be oblivious to it.

You can wash down your garbage cans but do it in a spot on your lawn or in your garden where the run off will water the plants. My SIL replumbed our houses so that our gray water, showers, dish water, etc. runs off on the property watering the plants and trees. We use bio-degradable, organic soaps and other products that are good for the plants. He did this 10 years ago and now it's paying off. Unfortunately, in many cities gray water goes into the same pipes and sewage treatment plants that your toilet waste goes into.

Cutting down on your water usage is helpful but recycling it is better. Maybe it's something to bring up at meetings of local government that are responsible for water management and disposal services. I hope passage of Prop 1 will address this.

Even though, still our gardens are sad looking but we are keeping foundation plants like trees, and hedges alive with this method until things get better.

It works for Stratford, Ont., and worked for years in Stratford, Conn.

Maybe they could raise enough $$ to dig a new well.

I see it came from here: http://waterforthelonghaul.com

I wonder if they had one made, got it from elsewhere, or if it's just photoshop...

at the edge of the Bay Area and they're putting in a new development there and I see that both Lodi and Galt have new developments going in too. That's more residences that are going to need water.