What the California drought means for Canadians

Water policy expert Dustin Garrick says Canadians will not be immune to the effects of the drought in California.

Garrick, the University’s Philomathia Chair of Water Policy, was on CTV News Channel Friday and and said that Canadians are directly linked to the situation in California by, among other things, the $3 billion in produce imported from the state each year.

He also said that drought could become the “new normal” for California.

The issue isn’t limited to he U.S. state, however: earlier in the week, NASA published a study which said that one-third of the world’s groundwater reservoirs are being depleted faster than they are being replenished.

“We’re withdrawing water faster than it’s being replenished,” he said. “It’s like spending money faster than you make it, without knowing if you have $10 or $10,000 left in the account.”