Gov. Schwarzenegger Declares Emergency in Middle California: Central Valley

California is in a state of drought, again, summer of 2008. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a state of emergency in nine Central Valley counties dealing with severe shortages of water. The governor attends this drought condition to below-average rainfall, low snowmelt runoff and water transfer restrictions has led to shortages in the areas of: Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties. This declaration, thankfully, will allow the Department of Water Resources to transfer groundwater through the California Aqueduct to help farmers in the affected counties. The governor is also pressuring the State Water Resources Control Board to give expedited review to water transfers.