New government maps show almost all the West is in drought and it isn’t even summer season but: “This is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented transfer, Southern California officers declared a water shortage emergency and asked roughly 6 million residents to limit all outdoor watering to simply as soon as a week.  

"We knew climate change would stress our water provides and we've been preparing for it but we did not know it will happen this quick," mentioned Gloria Gray, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Administrators.  

The newest government maps show nearly the entire West is in drought, and 95% of California is suffering severe or extreme drought.

"That is real. That is critical. This is unprecedented," said Adel Hagekhalil, general supervisor for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  

California just isn't alone as reservoirs across the West are draining.  

Lake Mead, the most important reservoir in the nation formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, wants a brand new pump to make sure water can flow to Las Vegas. 

"The problem with local weather change is that it takes all of the historical patterns and type of shifts them," NASA scientist Dr. JT Reager advised CBS News' Ben Tracy. 

Reager mentioned the West is in a 22-year megadrought, as local weather change makes it hotter and drier. 

"We're simply starting to see the dominoes fall. It's drier, we're beginning to see less water in our reservoirs, and we have now fires, and in California, there's just this sequence of consequences that we anticipate," stated Reager.