In an article published this week in the Los Angeles Times by Jay Famiglietti, senior water scientist at the Nasa Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the water crisis was brought to light and a dire picture painted.

Famiglietti states that California has lost approximately 12 million acre-feet of stored water every year since 2011. No relief is in sight for the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins that are now desperately below normal water levels.

To those of us not living in California, this may not mean much, but it has a greater impact to the entire United States than one might think. Awareness of the problem is only beginning now; and as of now, we are unable to truly grasp the implications of the water crisis in California.

Imagine for an instant that the beautiful, red ripened strawberries, or the carrots in the supermarket were just gone one day. According to a New York Times article written by Mark Bittman, over 85% of the nation’s carrot supply eaten by Americans is produced by Bolthouse Farms in the expansive Central Valley. These carrots are used to make baby carrots, freezer fare, concentrate, salad dressings, beverages, and eventually the leftovers are used for cattle feed. It’s simply incredible – the amount of different products – which come out of just one facility that harvests carrots. And this is only one example of the kind of produce that comes out of the Central Valley in California.