New authorities maps show nearly all of the West is in drought and it isn’t even summer time but: “This is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented move, Southern California officials declared a water shortage emergency and requested roughly 6 million residents to limit all out of doors watering to simply once every week.  

"We knew climate change would stress our water supplies and we've been preparing for it however we did not know it will happen this quick," said Gloria Grey, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors.  

The most recent government maps present almost all of the West is in drought, and 95% of California is suffering extreme or extreme drought.

"This is real. This is serious. That is unprecedented," mentioned Adel Hagekhalil, common supervisor for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  

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

Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir within the nation fashioned by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, needs a brand new pump to ensure water can movement to Las Vegas. 

"The issue with local weather change is that it takes all of the historic patterns and form of shifts them," NASA scientist Dr. JT Reager told CBS News' Ben Tracy. 

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

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