For the first time in history, California’s state water board aims to slash water use in urban areas by 25% to match Governor Jerry Brown’s order and has approved emergency drought regulations statewide.
The state’s water resources are declining precipitously and the future looks bleak. Sierra Nevada snow pack is at a record low and ground water levels have plummeted. The wells of hundreds of families in the Central Valley have run dry.
Californians reduced water use by less than 4% in March compared to 2013 under voluntary restrictions. The new measures are a “desperate times approach,” said Max Gomberg, a senior environmental scientist with the state water board.
The state water board has the authority to fine cities or water districts $10,000 if they don’t reach their targets or violate state orders. But the vast majority of farms in the state are exempt from the regulations. Water districts have already begun enforcement of water restrictions by issuing fines and citations as well as warnings.
Felicia Marcus, chair of the water board, said the cutbacks were “a collective issue that we all need to rise to in this time of emergency… [to] ensure urban resilience. “It is better to prepare now than to face much more painful cuts should it not rain in the fall,” she said. “I do get all the fears and the concerns, but I do think this is a moment to rise to an occasion and an all-hands-on-deck kind of a moment.”
A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. Jeremiah 50:38
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