And wildflowers aren't the only things getting hurt. Crippling drought in California has reduced the number of native wildflowers in the state’s grassland, potentially foreshadowing how climate change may affect plant life worldwide in the coming decades, according to new research in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). The impact of wildflower loss may be minimal at first, but researchers say effects could spread up the food chain, eliminating a key...

The owners of a Bay Area nudist resort have been charged with stealing water during the state's historic drought. Seventy-seven-year old Glyn Stout and his wife 53-year-old Lori Kay Stout, co-owners of Lupin Lodge, were charged Friday with felony conspiracy to commit trespassing for the purpose of injuring a property right. Officials say they repeatedly diverted water from a section of a local creek that they did not own...

All through the 20th century, the United States built a concrete army of dams around the West to tame rivers, generate electricity, and store up water in reservoirs for cities and farms. This intricate water system is why metropolises like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix have been able to flourish in what's basically a desert. It's what makes farming possible in California's Imperial Valley or central Arizona.

Walmart is the latest company found to be sourcing its bottled water from drought-stricken California, as state residents push for greater regulation of the bottling industry. Starbucks was moved to alter its bottling practices in California last week and Mount Shasta community members are fighting the opening of a major bottling plant by California-based company Crystal Geyser.

Californians are going to have to start preparing for a dry summer as the dehydrated state prepares for a water crackdown. In a somewhat controversial move, California water officials drafted a set of mandatory conservation regulations outlining varying degrees to which communities will be required to cut back on water use, ranging from 8 to 36 percent, depending on their history of water consumption.

An anonymous-but-concerned citizen offers her totally rational, reasoned response. The fountains were the first to go. “Decorative,” they called them. No need to keep those going. Then we lost the golf courses. An afternoon at the club range ends on the putting brown now. Afterward, in the dining room, we have to ask for water for the table. Ask. For tap water. It would seem we are in a drought.

Last month, California newspaper The Desert Sun published an investigation revealing that Nestlé Water’s permit to transport water across the San Bernardino National Forest for bottling has been expired since 1988. On Friday, the California Forest Service announced it would make it “a priority” to reassess the permit, and that it might impose as-of-yet unspecified “interim conditions” on the bottling operation in light of the severe drought, The Desert Sun reports.