ECHO LAKE, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered state officials Wednesday to impose mandatory water restrictions for the first time in history as the state grapples with a serious drought.
In an executive order, Brown ordered the state water board to implement measures in cities and towns that cut usage by 25 percent.
“We’re in a historic drought and that demands unprecedented action,” Brown said at a news conference in the Sierra Nevada, where dry, brown grass surrounded a site that normally would be snow-covered at this time of year. “We have to pull together and save water in every way we can.”
The move will affect residents, businesses, farmers and other users.
Brown’s order also will require campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscapes to significantly cut water use; order local governments to replace 50 million square feet of lawns on throughout the state with drought-tolerant landscaping; and create a temporary rebate program for consumers who replace old water-sucking appliances with more efficient ones.
The snowpack has been in decline all year, with electronic measurements in March showing the statewide snow water equivalent at 19 percent of the historical average for that date.
There was no snow at the site of the Wednesday snow survey.
Snow supplies about a third of the state’s water, and a higher snowpack translates to more water in California reservoirs to meet demand in summer and fall.
Officials say the snowpack is already far below the historic lows of 1977 and 2014, when it was 25 percent of normal on April 1 — the time when the snowpack is generally at its peak.
Brown declared a drought emergency and stressed the need for sustained water conservation.
The Department of Water Resources will conduct its final manual snow survey at a spot near Echo Summit, about 90 miles east of Sacramento. Electronic measurements are taken in a number of other places.
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As necessary as this is, and despite the amazing job Brown has done in CA to restore fiscal stability, I am sure this will be mocked by the same types who decry any regulations that promote the common good as “big government interference.”
Time’s a wastin’ for changing commercial agricultural practices regarding more efficient use of water. A widespread (mandatory?) use of carbon sequestration on farmlands via intensive application of biochar will give greater crop yields with less water, increase soil fertility while reducing the use of petroleum-based fertilizer, and reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide to boot! Make terra preta available everywhere for present and future generations!
The western drought is already here. It is projected to reach population-clearing severity between 2030 qnd 2050. Practical, effective actions begun in 2015 are very late in the game, but better late than never.
The time to hesitate is through if we want future mires to wallow in!
Unfortunately, the real abusers of the water system are agricultural users, particularly ground nut production. This is amazingly water intensive, and high profitable…at a high public cost. Not surprisingly, a large amount of ground nut production has been bought out by Wall Street investment banks and funds. This will make it highly politically dangerous to go after these crops, but the amount of water they use is incredible…