coast. heavy snow again over areas getting it today. so this will be sunday into monday. del? >> thank you, dave. and thank you for watching al jazeera america. i'm del walters in new york. "inside story" is next. ♪ disappearing lakes, bare mountaintons, emptying reservoirs, it's not just dry in the west, california's worst drought in centuries is the inside story. ♪ hello, i'm ray suarez. in normally drizzly san

francisco, .01 of an inch of rain fell in january. ranchers taking a look at dried up pasture land and the skyrocketing cost to feed are taking thousands of more caws to slaughter. the state's water authority closed the gates and would not release water to municipalities. normally snow capped mountains are bare or covered with the meezliest of snow packs. docks and marinas stand high and dry. the water's edge is now far away as they empty. water has been an issue in the southwest as long as we have planted cities in the desert, and engineered productive agriculture in places it rarely rains, but this drought is drawing more concern than usual. >> today i'm declaring a draught emergency in the state of

california. >> reporter: it has beener nearly three weeks since the governor first declared a drought emergency for california, and now after no significant rainfall, farmers and city dwellers are growing concerned. >> i have been cutting back on milan watering, and cutting back on the time i have been cutting back on my shower time. >> reporter: it's california's third consecutive year of drought. >> we have been saving engineer we can in five gallon buckets when we take a shower. >> 2014 is already disappointing, it has only rained about two inches. president obama called the governor about the drought last week, pledging the support of his federal agencies, and the governor is calling californians to cut the use of water by more than 20%. california's state water project

is also saying it may have to stop shipments of water to local agencies soon, barring emergencies. the decision could affect over 25 million people. >> this is the first time in the 54-year history of the project that projected water supplies for urban and agricultural users have been reduced to zero. >> reporter: in the forests there have been wildfires. last january there weren't any. this january, 406. and in the mountains, the snow packed water content, a water supply used during the dry season is only at 12% of normal levels. this is from a lack of snowfall. ski resorts in the mountains are seeing this now firsthand relying on artificial snow making, some resorts have closed, while others have laid

off workers. and ski resorts only the only businesses thirst for rain, fisherman have been banned from some areas. >> if we don't get rain in a 30-day or so window, we'll be in pretty much dire straits. >> reporter: the agriculture industry is worth more than $40 billion. no rain could mean food stamps for farmer and food shortages for america. u.s. officials are expected to announce whether they will provide a small amount of federally controlled water to farmers later this month. ♪ the southwest has seen drought cycles before. it will see them again, but the colorado river is already a relative trickle when it reaches

california. water and the rest on this edition of "inside story," joining us for a look at the challenges presented by the current drought are dave from any western growers association which represents farmers in california and arizona, he is their senior vice president of government affairs and communications. from phoenix, assistant developer of water planning, and in california, president and cofounder of the pacific institute, a group that promotes environmental sustainability. and peter glick let me start with you. there are and always have been periodic droughts in the u.s. southwest, how bad is this one compared to ones you have seen in the past? >> we have wet years.

we have dry years. the climate is naturally variable, but without a doubt the current drought is in many ways unprecedented, we have had measurements in the state of california for other 150 years, and this drought is deeper than we have seen in the last 150 years, basically deeper than we have seen in the modern history of california, and we're in a big hole and [ technical difficulties ] >> well, farmers are highly innovative and able to adapt to changing circumstances. but as peter said, we're in a third dry year and this year is particularly dry. and we're coming to the point

where there is no mitigation or alternative strategy to try to keep your crops alive. the only strategy would be to try to minimize losses. and hope for mother nature to turn the spigot back on. >> so just to be clear, unless rain falls out of the sky will are not hidden cashe's of water hidden is there? >> no, we have a wildly volatile climate here. when we're in an extended period of low precipitation like this, farmers are turn to ground water supplies, but we have severely depleted ground water in some areas of the state, and that water is just not going to be

available much longer. >> tom you have heard peter and dave talk about the situation in california, is arizona in the same boat -- or boat sitting not on water, i guess? >> well, ray, i think our boat is floating pretty well right now. some of the california problems are related to the state water project which is internal to california. certainly arizona shares usage of the colorado river with california and other states, and there has been a drought on that river as well. but arizona is in really good shape. there are a variety of reasons for that. we have been kind of planning for this since at least 1980 and before that in terms of our ground water management code and a lot of conservation programs, stormwater underground, and other programs that flow out of the ground water code, so in the short-term at least we don't foresee any water shortages in

arizona. we have seen some impacts on some of our ranching community and forests, and we have seen some fires in the summers over the last few years. but for our municipal and agricultural users, we are in pretty good shape. >> isn't your water replenished to a certain degree like california's by runoff and snow pack and that sort of thing? are you suffering the same drought they are? >> we are suffering from the 14-year drought on the colorado river. we also have in-state resources, two rivers primarily, they have had some good years recently, and some bad years. the reservoirs inside our state that are key to our water users on the river are over half full.

the colorado river reservoirs are 49% full, and we see no allocation reductions, no water use limits because we have the reservoir storage, and we also have ample ground water storage, which we have artificially stored water underground for just this occasion. >> peter when we have a cycle like the one we're in now, do the formulas change? does everybody have to take out a little less? we just heard tom talking about how arizona's allocation has remained the same. what has that meant for the colorado? >> like arizona, california has a very complicated water system. in the winter we have our rainfall and snow in the mountains in the northern part of the state primarily.

there are local rivers in different parts of the state. parts of california gets some of its water from the colorado river. in the past not all resources have been in drought at the same time. and as tom mentioned the colorado river is relatively low, but not low enough to have a shortage call. so even in southern california, those areas that are dependent on the colorado river may see their full allocation whereas other areas are more subject to the lack of rain and snowfall. but even in california some farmers in some cities are in better shape than others, and it will be a mixed story even here. >> but what if this continues, does this force some really

tough choices down the road, if we're not in fact in part of a three or four-year cycle, but a 12-year cycle as sometimes occurs in various parts of the world? >> that's a great question. this is the third year of this drought. and what if there is a fourth or fifth year of draught? in australia they had a bad drought and then kept going, and it turned into a nine-year drought, and at the end of that drought, they were doing things that even here in the united states we haven't started talking about. it could get -- it's bad now, and it could get a lot worse, and frankly maybe this is a harbinger of climate change, and the kind of thing we're going to

have to accept for the long term. >> we're going to take a short break, and when we come back, we'll talk about what future might look like, not only for the places where people live, but for some of the most valuable agriculture in north america. this is "inside story."

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visit aljazeera.com. follow @ajam on twitter. and like aljazeera america on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. so you don't just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. al jazeera america. if you engineer a way of life that 50 million people depend on, what do you do, what can you do when a natural resource just isn't being replenished. water and the west on this edition of "inside story." dave if this continues what options are available to your members? as california considers how to allocate limited resources, can the farmers say, hey, look, we produce a big part of the gdp of

this state, we have to be supplied? >> yeah, california farmers produce about half of the fresh produce supplied to the united states, and there is a real value to that. and i think as we look ahead in the decades to come, we do look at the possibility of a continuing continuingly insee secure water-supply system. we have a system that is complicated and served the needs of our state for decades, but it was designed and built for a population about half the size we are at today. we are headed to 50 million by 2050, and even without the ag ci industry's continued growth, we have to change the system.

there are conversation efforts, desalination has potential and i think all of the tools need to be brought to the table if we're going to manage our water resources in the decades to come. >> tom is arizona already there? >> well, certainly in the short-term, we're already there, and i'll throw out some numbers that might evidence what our water management and conversation and reuse programs have accomplished in the state of arizona. if you look at the time period, 1957 to 2011, our population has gone up 452%. our gross domestic product has gone up 1,578%. and our water use has actually gone down from about 7 million to 6.9 million. so we have done a lot of good

over the years. we do also see growth coming in the future in all of our sectors potentially, agricultural, industrial, and municipal. and the governor recently charged the department with putting out a strategic vision looking out over a hundred years or so, how are we going to meet those challenges? and it includes some of the things we already talked about. looking at desalination, funding for items, and really to move forward, we're going to have to keep up the good work we have done. >> reporter: i have been to arizona farms and it's almost visually incon grewous, and strikingly beautiful to drive through lush fields that you know are the result of irrigation, nothing fell from the sky to grow these fields, or

the incredibly thirsty crop of cotton, it is really something to see standing in a desert. if this goes on, can you contemplate saying to cotton farmers, hey, maybe we can't grow cotton in arizona anymore. >> i think certainly in central arizona again since the passage of the ground water management act which created mandatory conversation for farms, those folks have invested approximately 3,670 dollars per acre of land in conservation and efficiency so they got to about 80% efficiency. in yuma, arizona, which produces 90% of all the leafy green vegetables for the united states in the winter months, they are

still using the same amount of water they did in 1970. so the farming environment is very important. it creates lifestyle, open space and other things, and it's part of the economy, so we will find a way, as we have in the past to use water efficiently and allow those farmers to continue if they desire. >> peter are the people of the united states because of the problems of the southwest, should they be thinking about either more expensive food or more expensive water for farmers? >> so ray let me make a couple of points here. tom makes a good point about the improvements we have seen in arizona, and we have seen very significant improvements in water efficient nationwide and especially here in california.

we're more efficient in our urban sectors, our farmer have become more efficient, but you ask the question that i think is a really key one. there are short f-term things that we're going to have to do because of this drought. we are going to have to fallow land, let our lawns go brown, let the water in our toilets mellow yellow as we used to say. but there has to be almost changes. is this the right place to grow certain types of crops with old-style irrigation techniques? is this the time when we ought to be discussing our urban makeup, and whether we ought to have lawns in the west, lawns we adopted from old style english gardens. it may require not just the short-term changes, but some

fundamental long-term changes in the way we think about water. >> we're going to take a short break now, and when we come back, we'll talk about what the future might look like optimally, and then what people will really put up with and comply with. this is "inside story."

>> no doubt about it, innovation changes our liv

>> welcome back to "inside story." i'm ray soares. welcome back to "inside story." i'm ray suarez. it's the rainy season in california, but it's not raining, the cause is a big zone of high-pressure which meteorologist are calling the ridiculously resilient ridge. still with us are our guests. in berkeley, california.

and tom you heard peter just before the break talking about all of us having to take a look at lifestyle changes, and i wonder if you are already doing that in arizona. sometimes when i jump out of a car when i'm in the southwest, i only afterwards realize that some of those lush lawns are actually made out of plastic. are we going to have to see a little bit more of that? >> certainly as i mentioned earlier, arizona's water management efforts have changed the landscape. certainly we have also began looking at ways to collaborate with the other states we share the colorado river with. and over the last 12 or so years those collaborative efforts through conservation and following and some programs that peter already mentioned have resulted up to propping up lake

mead, the primary reservoir that provides water to three states, by approximately a million acre feet of water. and recently that has included the republic of mexico. so we think the states will get together in partnership with the federal government find more ways to collaborate and create some equity in sharing the risks of the water supply that we commonly share. >> but you have to have water in the first place, right? some of this has a heavy dependence on what nature does, doesn't it? >> yes, and we have been in a drought for 14 years on the colorado river, and those elevations do exist pursuitant to a collaborative program that

was put together in 2007 among those states and the federal government. so it's not like there's no water in the river. we have huge reservoirs on the colorado river, they are almost half full despite very poor runoff in 14 years. you can see it in prehistoric records that go back 1200 years at least. >> let me turn to dave, should we be talking much more seriously and with a greater sense of urgency to the public about more expensive water, food, and more stringent conservation measures in the coming years? >> i think we do, and i think we

also have to educate the public about the reality of the global food sourcing strategies that are employed around the world. the fact of the matter is while there will be some crops that cannot be grown in california because of lack of water, the users of those foods will find another way. and one of the things we have to consider is [ technical difficulties ] >> we can do more in every single sector from our homes

[ technical difficulties ] >> we can do more with the limited water we have, but there are growing constraints. >> well, we'll have to talk again in the future about pricing. i hope it starts to rain in the southwest for all of your sakes. great to talk to you. and that brings us to the end of this edition of "inside story." thanks for being with us. the program may be over but the conversation continues. log on to our facebook page or send us your thoughts on twitter. or you can reach me directly at ray suarez news. see you for the next "inside story," in washington, i'm ray

suarez. ♪ welcome to al jazeera america, i'm del walters. these are the stories we're following for you. one of america's largest pharmacies now taking a stand against smoking. cvs saying it will no longer sell cigarettes. >> there are number of degree of credibility we're tracking. and there is a new un report out accusing the vatican of accepting policies that allowed prooss to