Drought Has Already Cost Close to $2 Billion and 14,000 Jobs, and It’s Likely Not Over Yet
A new report estimates that in 2021, drought conditions cost agriculture $1.2 billion and another half a billion dollars in other sectors. The report, written by researchers at both UC Merced and the Public Policy Institute of California, blames these economic impacts on one of the driest water years on record, which resulted in huge water losses even after tapping into millions of acre feet of groundwater.