Today we launch Drought Week, a five-part series looking at how water shortages across the West are profoundly changing life. We’ll swoop around, from Oregon to the Sonoran Desert, from cities to national parks, from Joshua trees to lawns. 

To start Drought Week, it’s only natural — pardon the pun — that we take the bigger view first with our Masters of Disasters, the L.A. Times reporters who focus on natural calamities. So get your five-gallon buckets and put them next to you when you shower, ’cause things are serious right now.

Then stick around to hear from super-heavyweight boxer Richard Torrez Jr., a Californian representing the United States in the Tokyo Olympics, and his father and coach, Richard Torrez Sr. 

More reading:

Drone photos reveal the shocking truth of California’s parched landscape

He had 10 minutes to flee the Salt fire. Now his home is gone

Ready to scratch the grass? Here are 28 inspiring lawn-free yards