It rained earlier this week, so that means I can take a long shower, wash my car and water the grass.

If this is the mindset citizens have during the time of extreme drought, then all possibilities of comfortable and responsible living are nonexistent.

To the rest of the nation and even the rest of the world, California is a haven filled with cool cars, celebrities and green lawns. Actual residents know the real truth: this state is in peril because of the water demand system it has created during the past several decades.
Or do they?

Seeing what seems like endless shelves of bottled water in stores doesn’t help citizens see the reality of what California is facing: water is running out. Fast.

From 1994 to 2013, the state has exported an average of about 1.6 billion gallons of water a year from the Delta, according to Mac Taylor, who is an analyst for California’s legislature. Without going into specifics, this amount is considered too much. Here’s why:

The bulk of California’s water projects were built a few decades ago, before any student here was born, and in an unusually wet period. This only worsened the current drought because there is a big water export system built during a time of consistent rain and a surplus of water; now, since that surplus is gone, the state must drastically change its water usage habits to save itself from drought, which can last for decades because it has in the past.

But it’s not just the state or water exporters that are hurting water conservation. Citizens, who water their lawns and commit other wasteful acts during this time of crisis, are only hurting their future in terms of water usage.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are about 38.8 million people living in California as of 2014. If everyone in the state took a five minute shower, about 77.6 million gallons of water will be used.

And that’s if each person has a more modern shower that uses two gallons of water per minute.

Of course, this is hypothetical, but this falls into the safe zone of what water exporters send out of lakes and wetlands. So this means we have a surplus in water, right?

No. Don’t forget drought.

In Stockton, most of us have grown up in a suburban neighborhood or apartments. Some don’t see where the water from the tap comes from so it gives people the false sense that there is an infinite amount. This is a dangerous mindset because everyday citizens use much more water than what comes in through rain or lakes.

In order for this generation of teens to be ready for these serious problems, they must take initiative in learning about this drought and how to approach it. This isn’t to say that all adults are aware of these important issues; everyone must take this drought, and the projects that concern it, seriously because it isn’t going to go away anytime soon.

The state can’t wait for rain. California residents need to change their water usage habits to conform to this desperate time of water deprivation because we live in this environment and we must be the ones to take responsibility and act in this crisis.