New government maps present nearly all the West is in drought and it isn’t even summer yet: “This is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented move, Southern California officials declared a water shortage emergency and requested roughly 6 million residents to limit all out of doors watering to only once every week.  

"We knew local weather change would stress our water supplies and we have been preparing for it but we didn't know it could happen this fast," stated Gloria Grey, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors.  

The most recent government maps show almost the entire West is in drought, and 95% of California is struggling severe or excessive drought.

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

California is just not alone as reservoirs throughout the West are draining.  

Lake Mead, the most important reservoir in the nation fashioned by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, wants a new pump to make sure water can flow to Las Vegas. 

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

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

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