New authorities maps present nearly the entire West is in drought and it is not even summer season 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 as soon as per week.  

"We knew climate change would stress our water supplies and we have been making ready for it but we did not know it will occur this fast," said Gloria Grey, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Administrators.  

The most recent authorities maps present almost all the West is in drought, and 95% of California is suffering extreme or excessive drought.

"This is real. This is severe. That is unprecedented," said Adel Hagekhalil, common manager for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  

California will not be alone as reservoirs throughout the West are draining.  

Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir within the nation formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, needs a new pump to make sure water can flow to Las Vegas. 

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

Reager stated the West is in a 22-year megadrought, as local weather change makes it hotter and drier. 

"We're simply starting to see the dominoes fall. It is drier, we're beginning to see less water in our reservoirs, and we've fires, and in California, there's just this collection of consequences that we anticipate," said Reager.