Due to a lack of winter storms and record temperatures, snowpack in California is at an all-time low. When surface water supplies are low, water reserves hidden beneath the surface in aquifers, or groundwater, are drilled to make up the deficit. The third is that although "the 25% water consumption restrictions announced last week are intended to help reduce demand, most of California's water is used for agriculture." California is not the only Western state facing water supply problems. The Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego, has also been in the grip of a "drought for more than a decade, and the river basin's aquifers are also in decline." California first faced drought in the 1970s, "fewer than 20 million people lived in the state, and today nearly 40 million live there ».