this is lake oroville. in 2007, a lake with ample vegetation. this is now lake levels at lake oroville have plunged 68%. here is the look at the same lake. this is before, this is after. to counter the drought emergency california governor jerry brown signed an executive order requiring businesses farms and individuals to cut their usage by 25%. >> it's going to to affect golf courses people's lawns universities campuses all sorts of surfaces, median vegetation, it affects all of that and we're directing local water agencies to take specific action as they determine. but overall we're looking for a 25% aggregate reduction. >> our meteorologist kevin corriveau is here with more on just how severe this drought has been kevin. >> john we have been watching this for the last five years these are the hard cold facts of where the drought is. in 2010, we were talking about only 10% of the state was under moderate area of the drought 64% was not affected at all. just in five years this is what we are looking at. almost 98% of the state is under moderate

lake oroville is half empty because of the draught. with levels low, bidders may beg for water. the worst drought means farmers that have that water may not have more to spare. >> i don't think there's a case where we sold very much. we have an infrastructure that survives if we keep farming, that's what we do we farm. >> reporter: with farmers across the state changing their callualous on how much water to by or sell or how much or little to plant, the draught may show the impact from beyond the farm to the table. >>> earlier we spoke about the columbia river in oregon. there's another issue, thousands of see loins are taking up -- lions are taking up residents. allen schauffler has more on that story. >> reporter: the battle for dock start for migrating male californian sea lions, they are almost everywhere along the city of astoria's water front. >> all the years i've done this work i have never seen anything like it. >> marine mammal researcher studied the animals since the 1970s. the survey showing twice as many as last year 10 times the number dropping by for dinner five y

here are some striking before and after photos from the lake oroville region in northern california. out the difference in water levels between 2011 and 2014. that is three years. look at that. that's amazing. right? i'm from california. i was just there. i don't think people are changing their ways too much. see people watering all kinds of stuff. really not taken seriously. if you ask people around the country, they go, ok, why aren't people taking this that seriously? >> water is free. it feels like it's free. just turn it -- it's hard to take some things seriously when you poop into it. [laughter] that's why i broke up with derek. >> going to get personal. is it that we just take it for granted. >> we take everything for granted in this country. and the other thing is people don't believe in science. like that congressman that brought a snowball into congress. oh there's no climate change. look, oh, my god you're brilliant. the problem is that they think that jesus or god or whoever is going to be like ok, you ran out of water, here you go, here is some bread, here is everything

. >> city received much water from lake oroville. about 65% full now the state told us that we'd receive 25% aloe indication of our state water. >> last year, benicia had to buy water on the open market. now, more residents are helping by putting in drought resistant plants alleden takes it further. >> when i take a shower i put a bucket in the shower until water gets hot i save the water and put it on the lawn. >> residents who use high amounts of water will pay a drought surcharge. those caught violating schedules will be facing fines up to $500. >> lake shasta is still only 59% full. california farmers are being told they'll get no water from the feds. >> cutting back on water usage in northern california women affect the way the whole country needs. 90% of the tomatoes come from here as well and 92% of america's strawberries are california strawberries california also grows more nuts than any other state. 99% of domestic nuts are grown here. >> another lapse in security at mineta san jose airport. a 20-year-old was caught caught

of the devastation, take a look at these pictures, this is like or oville in 2011 and this is lake orovilleow. as you can see the water levels have plunged 68%. this is a look at the same lake. this is before and this is after. jennifer london reports for us now on why the state is taking desperate measures. >> reporter: desperate times calling for desperate measures in the golden state. standing on the slopes of a bone dry ski area in the sierra nevada mountains jerry brown announced new mandatory water restrictions. >> we are in an historic drought and that demands unprecedented action. >> reporter: the state was already reeling from an epic drought. now after record low snowfall this winter, officials are running out of options. >> i ask this gentleman over here, have you ever stood on this meadow in this day that there weren't snow? and he said no. >> reporter: the new restrictions aim to cut water usage by 25% statewide potentially saving half a trillion gallons of waters, golf courses cemeteries and other facilities with large landscapes will take the biggest hits. the governor's acti

. >> city received much water from lake oroville. about 65% full now the state told us that we'd receive 25% aloe indication of our state water. >> last year, benicia had to buy water on the open market. now, more residents are helping by putting in drought resistant plants alleden takes it further. >> when i take a shower i put a bucket in the shower until water gets hot i save the water and put it on the lawn. >> residents who use high amounts of water will pay a drought surcharge. those caught violating schedules will be facing fines up to $500. >> lake shasta is still only 59% full. california farmers are being told they'll get no water from the feds. >> cutting back on water usage in northern california women affect the way the whole country needs. 90% of the tomatoes come from here as well and 92% of america's strawberries are california strawberries california also grows more nuts than any other state. 99% of domestic nuts are grown here. >> another lapse in security at mineta san jose airport. a 20-year-old was caught caught

they get most of their water from lake oroville which is only 65% full and that means the city is only getting 25% of what it would normally get from the lake this year. carolyn tyler is in benicia and she's going to show us how folks there have already met the governor's conservation goal already. some simple changes at home can help you save gallons of water every single day. we have a link to those details at abc7news.com. >>> with this news of a record low snowpack up in the sierra, there is a bit of good news. rain and snow is on the way. sandhya patel is outside with a look ahead. >> yeah dan there are two systems that are on the way and those systems could bring us rain and snow. let's take a look at live doppler 7 hd right now. up to our north we are tracking some showers mixed precipitation over the mountains. we will be seeing our share, it looks like. as you take a look at this computer animation starting this weekend. now saturday it is just cooler. sunday scattered light showers for easter. then as we head into early next week we have more showers for your monday night goi

. >> the city receives much of its water from lake oroville and it's about 65% full right now. the state has told us that we would receive a 25% allocation of our state water. >> reporter: last year because of the low lake levels benicia had to buy water on the open market to make up for dwindling state supplies. now more and more residents like mary alden are helping conserve by putting in drought-resistant plants. in fact benicia has the highest participation in solano county in a turf replacement rebate program. but alden takes her water savings even further. >> like i don't take a shower every day. when i do take a shower, i put a bucket in the shower until the water gets hot i save that water and then put it on my lawn. >> reporter: large consumers of water could face a drought surcharge. in benicia, carolyn tyler, abc 7 news. >>> this year's statewide snowpack of about 5% again shatters the previous record low of 25% set during the 1977 drought. that drought is credited with sparking a water conservation movement across the state. people even put bricks in their toilets to

gerri: one of the eye-popping visuals on this is a picture of lake oroville before and after the drought, if we can get up that. that's amazing. take a look at this. that's how big this is. that's how important this is. congressman kevin mccarthy, they mentioned before the house majority leader saying sacramento and washington have chosen to put well-being of fish above the well-being of people by refusing to capture acres of feet of water for use during dry years. seems like the solution is simple. i bet it's not inexpensive. kristen and mark, thanks for bringing us the story. >> thank you. >> thank you. gerri: news breaking late this afternoon you may have heard the u.s. iran and five other world powers announcing they reached a framework for a deal on iran's nuclear program. those involved say it sets them up for a more comprehensive nuclear agreement by the end of june. so it's just a step, but that's not stopping the administration from declaring victory. secretary of state john kerry tweeted there was a deal to resolve major issues on nuclear program and president obama called it h

. >> another striking contrast lake oroville. all but gone.from what it looked like in 2011. chad myers is monitoring the impacts of this historic drought. he's here to tell us more. it's incredible chad. bad. >> the numbers carol, are staggering. when i show you the numbers, trillions, not about national debt but water debt that we have out here in gallons, trillions of gallons that we don't have where we need it. 99.85% of the state is severe and then the next layer up is extreme, 41 is in the exceptional category which means essentially some spots are turning into deserts. this is what the rain should already look like. not much rain. not much snow. certainly not in 2015. we back you up to a wet year. this is what the snow looks like. it's an odd color. that's what snow looks like on this modus satellite. this year the snow is gone. it didn't fall. not that it melted already, it just didn't fall. there is what our snow pack looks like. that's all that's left across the sierra. that's 1.4 inches across the ground. that's 5% 5% of the average