California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a drought emergency for the state on Friday at a press conference in San Francisco.
Brown says that everyone living in California needs to reduce their use of water 20 percent, reports the Los Angeles Times. He said, "We ought to be ready for a long, continued, persistent effort to restrain our water use," but at the moment it will be "voluntary."
Others, including fellow lawmakers and farmers, have been trying to get the governor to make the announcement for several weeks and reporters have been asking Brown questions relating to the drought while he was on a two-day trip stretching between Fresno and Bakersfield.
According to The Associated Press, many water reservoirs are currently sitting at half-full and everyone has been hoping rain would hit the state soon.
Some cities in the state are already dangerously low on water, while farms are trying to figure out how best to conserve what little water there is. The lack of water will also hurt the state during the wildfire season, something California is already struggling with.
California isn't alone in trying to survive a drought as several other states, including Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Utah, aren't doing well with the lack of rains either.
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