New authorities maps present practically all of the West is in drought and it isn’t even summer time yet: “This is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented transfer, Southern California officials declared a water shortage emergency and asked roughly 6 million residents to restrict all outside watering to only once a week.  

"We knew local weather change would stress our water supplies and we have been preparing for it however we did not know it would occur this quick," said Gloria Gray, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors.  

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

"That is actual. That is serious. This is unprecedented," said Adel Hagekhalil, general manager 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 within the nation shaped by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, needs a new pump to make sure water can flow to Las Vegas. 

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

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

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