It is nothing new that California is going through a major drought right now, and we are in no position to be wasting water. But according to a recent article in the Washington post, approximately five million gallons of water has been wasted on The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge across the US.
The Ice Bucket Challenge has helped raise money and awareness for Lou Gehrig’s disease, contributing over $100 million to the ALS Association as of the end of August, according to Forbes.com. While what the campaign has done for Lou Gehrig’s disease should be commended, the Californian participants are contributing to one of the worst droughts California has ever experienced.
California has actually started fining participants of the challenge. An article in the Daily Currant describes a situation where a sorority at the University of Southern California was fined $500 a person for pouring water on themselves, totaling at $25,000.
The Ice Bucket Challenge is fun, especially with all the celebrities participating – it’s the trendy thing to do. But Californians are wasting water on this challenge that we cannot afford to waste. We need to preserve the water in case things get worse than it already is.
Imagine what would happen if we don’t get any rain in the next six months; it’s scary to think about, isn’t it? The concern for the lack of water in California is as high as it has ever been, and things still could get worse.
Even though the Ice Bucket Challenge has done a lot of good, it is doing a lot of bad in our state at the same time. People should donate money to a charity that is doing research for ALS,  but they don’t need to waste water to do it. California is in need of water, and we all need to do our part to preserve the water we have.