California officials have warned that tap water may not be delivered to local agencies that distribute it to homes in the state. Two thirds of residents in the state and more than a million acres of farmland get part or all of their water from the California Department of Water Resources.

Mark Cowin director of the Water Resources Department said in an interview with Bloomberg:

“This isn’t a coming crisis, this isn’t an evolving crisis. This is a current crisis.”

This is the first time in the department’s history that it has predicted what it calls ‘zero allocation,’ a situation that will affect about 25 million people.

The water originates in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and from there it is distributed to local water agencies via a system of aqueducts, reservoirs, pipelines and pumping stations.

From this point forward, local distribution agencies will have to rely on other sources such as stored water and groundwater to try and keep their customers supplied.

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