California facing worst drought in a century

Official figures this week confirmed what many in California were anticipating: The drought in America's most populous state is the worst in nearly a century.

In question, precipitation at the lowest since 1924, which is no longer sufficient to replenish the water reservoirs, and temperatures at the highest - August was the hottest month on record - which aggravate evaporation.

Now, according to the U.S. Drought Watch Center, nearly 90 percent of California suffers from extreme or exceptional drought.

And experts fear the next twelve months will be even worse, as the climatic phenomenon of La Nina, synonymous with dry winters, has begun to take its toll.

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In early April, which traditionally marks the end of snowfall, snow reserves in the neighboring Sierra Nevada - the source of about a third of the water used in California - were only about 60 percent per year.

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