New authorities maps show practically the entire West is in drought and it’s not even summer yet: “This is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented transfer, Southern California officers declared a water scarcity emergency and requested roughly 6 million residents to limit all out of doors watering to only once every week.  

"We knew climate change would stress our water supplies and we have been making ready for it however we did not know it might happen this quick," said Gloria Gray, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors.  

The most recent government maps show practically all the West is in drought, and 95% of California is suffering severe or excessive drought.

"That is actual. This is serious. That is unprecedented," said Adel Hagekhalil, general manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  

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

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir within the nation fashioned by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, needs a new pump to make sure water can move to Las Vegas. 

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

Reager stated 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 starting to see much less water in our reservoirs, and we have fires, and in California, there's just this series of consequences that we anticipate," said Reager.