New government maps present practically all of the West is in drought and it’s not even summer season yet: “This is unprecedented”

In an unprecedented move, Southern California officers declared a water scarcity emergency and asked roughly 6 million residents to restrict all out of doors watering to just once per week.  

"We knew local weather change would stress our water supplies and we've been preparing for it but we did not know it would occur this fast," said Gloria Gray, chairwoman of the Metropolitan Water District Board of Directors.  

The newest authorities maps show practically all of the West is in drought, and 95% of California is suffering severe or extreme drought.

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

California is 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, needs a new pump to make sure water can stream to Las Vegas. 

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

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

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