California Adopts "Unprecedented" Restrictions On Water Use As Drought Worsens

Zero Hedge ^ | 05/06/2015 | Tyler Durden

[SeekAndFind]

Early last month we warned that California’s drought was approaching historic proportions and that if climatologists were to be believed, the country may see a repeat of The Dirty Thirties as experts cite “Dust Bowl” conditions. Governor Jerry Brown has called for statewide water restrictions aimed at reducing consumption by 25%. 

Now, the conservation calls are getting much louder as the state’s water regulators have approved “unprecedented” measures aimed at curtailing the crisis. 

Via AP: 

California water regulators adopted sweeping, unprecedented restrictions Tuesday on how people, governments and businesses can use water amid the state's ongoing drought, hoping to push reluctant residents to deeper conservation.

 

The State Water Resources Control Board approved rules that force cities to limit watering on public property, encourage homeowners to let their lawns die and impose mandatory water-savings targets for the hundreds of local agencies and cities that supply water to California customers.

 

Gov. Jerry Brown sought the more stringent regulations, arguing that voluntary conservation efforts have so far not yielded the water savings needed amid a four-year drought. He ordered water agencies to cut urban water use by 25 percent from levels in 2013, the year before he declared a drought emergency…

 

Despite the dire warnings, it's also still not clear that Californians have grasped the seriousness of the drought or the need for conservation. Data released by the board

 

Tuesday showed that Californians conserved little water in March, and local officials were not aggressive in cracking down on waste.

 

A survey of local water departments showed water use fell less than 4 percent in March compared with the same month in 2013. Overall savings have been only about 9 percent since last summer.

 

Under the new rules, each city is ordered to cut water use by as much as 36 percent compared with 2013.

And more color from The LA Times which reports that California will begin cracking down on “wasters” via the imposition of stiff fines as millions of trees die out in National Forests, raising the risk of wildfires :

“Right now we're scared. Right now we're in the denial stage. We have to get into acceptance, and we have a relatively short period of time to do it.”

 

Others were more skeptical, citing new data showing that California's hundreds of urban water suppliers assessed only 682 penalties to water wasters in the last several months after receiving more than 10,000 complaints.

 

The enforcement data demonstrate the “need to make enforcement a true deterrent to water wasting,” said Mark Gold of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. “People don't park in posted street sweeping parking spaces three weeks in a row. The vast majority of people in California are not looking at this as a dire situation, yet.”

 

Years of extremely dry conditions are taking a heavy toll on forest lands across California and heightening the fire risk as summer approaches.

 

“The situation is incendiary,” William Patzert, a climatologist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told The Times recently. “The national forest is stressed out”...

 

A new study by the U.S. Forest Service tried to assess the scope of the problem. Researchers estimated that the drought has killed off at least 12.5 million trees in California’s national forests during the drought.

 

The scientists expect the die-off to continue. “It is almost certain that millions more trees will die over the course of the upcoming summer as the drought situation continues and becomes ever more long term,” said biologist Jeffrey Moore, acting regional aerial survey program manager for the U.S. Forest Service.

 

*  *  *

Of course, cutting back will come at a steep cost for utility companies who will promptly attempt to replace an estimated $1 billion in lost revenue by raising prices for consumers. Between rising utility costs and fines of up to $10,000 for egregious violations of the state's conservation efforts, hydration just got a lot more expensive in California — unless you're a MotherFracker, in which case none of this applies.

[NormsRevenge]

They could have spent money on infrastructure to be able to handle droughts..

But NOOOooooOOOooooo...

Did that stop legislators and environmental lobbyists and social engineers from totalling flooding the state with illegals and liberals (many who never shower anyway)?

They blew the dough on pipedreams and a college system that is fruitier than grannys old fruitcake.

[Lorianne]

I don’t see how this can be avoided if CA keeps having a growing population.

[Politically Correct]

And they will continue to let 70% of the water flow to the sea to keep the rivers looking pristine and the bait fish healthy.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: They could have spent money on infrastructure to be able to handle droughts..

They did spend money on infrastructure though... THE $68 Billion HIGH SPEED RAIL !!

[spokeshave]

They wasted gazillions of gallons of water to "save the smelt"....at the last survey they found 5 FIVE....and the one pictured in the guys hand since died....

[skeeter]

But but the brain surgeons in Sacramento are still welcoming in water guzzling, lawn watering, toilet flushing illegal aliens by the thousands.

Hell, our leaders are buying them health insurance with our money now.

For all the extra water they'll use Sacramento must really, really want them here.

[NormsRevenge]

nothing has even been built yet.. tho a lot of dough has been blown seizing properties, condemning businesses,, faking it is environemtally friendly,, this is the coup de grace if it ever actually gets started .. much less completed.. maybe they could turn it onto a bottled water express choo choo.. drain lake tahoe and truck bottles to stinkmento to be shipped at high speed to SoCal..

There is an old saying.. Whatsamatta you? You got crap for brains? They could have flushed Brown down a second time arond.. now... we all get left holding the stink.. as California blisters.. and smells .. and whales wash up on the shoreline..

[RayChuang88]

The possibility of a massive emigration from California and the US Southwest if this drought continues is not such a crazy idea. It could have tremendous effect on American politics if that happens.

[Lockbox]

It’s easy, either increase supply or reduce demand. Since there is not enough time to address the supply side, suggest reducing demand...... start shipping back the illegal aliens.

[dfwgator]

The possibility of a massive emigration from California

It would be ironic if they moved to Oklahoma....Would they be referred to as "Calies"?

[Political Junkie Too]

That guy's hand is now a wetland. He could go to prison if he tries to dry it and put it in his pocket.

-PJ

[Sarah Barracuda]

My city will have a 36 percent restriction on water..F this state..lived here all my life but since the illegals, SEIU thugs, and liberal goons took over not even Ronald Reagan would recognize the state he loved anymore

[alloysteel]

California has been a dried-out tinder box for years, it is just that the right spark has not yet been struck.

And it probably has nothing to do with the availability of water.

California has ALWAYS had the capability of “solving” their water problems, it would have to do with exporting a vast proportion of their population. There is perhaps enough water to adequately serve the purposes of maybe half their present numbers, but they have encouraged the importation of unqualified and unmotivated people for years.

Since this is not a practical solution, the next best thing would be to find other sources of water. There is a great big reservoir of water just off their left hands, which unfortunately just a little high in dissolved salt. Policy decision, remove the salt.

Desalination plants, in the form of Thorium-powered Molten Salt nuclear reactors, set up on the ocean’s edge all up and down the coast, could generate enough heat to run a vast series of water stills, and incidentally also a huge surplus of electricity. The distilled and now salt-free water, sent in conduits to the interior of the state, would provide ample water to support maybe seven or eight times the present population, and make the land once again sufficiently productive to be the breadbasket of the North American continent and most of the Pacific Rim.

Right now, California is scarcely self-supporting.

[cookcounty]

California’s water must all be falling in Colorado, last year was the wettest I’ve seen in 10 years in Colorado, and this year may surpass last year. We’ve had rain every day for 4 days and it’s supposed the rain the next 4 days as well…..muddy car.

[CIB-173RDABN]

Typical socialist solution to any problem. One size fits all.

There is a river that runs less than a mile from my home. Our city water comes from wells (which I am sure the river water keeps full).

That river flows into the delta and then out to sea.

Unless we are using so much water that the river dries up (not likely) then us conserving water has no effect on what southern California or even the bay area have to use.

Yet, we are under the same restrictions as the rest of the state.

[antceecee]

Should send Jerry Moonbeam Brown tons of rubber smelts.

[sickoflibs]

Happened here in Maryland in summer 1999,

Local TV and Baltimore Sun posted a special hotline number to report outdoor water use to police so they could investigate and fine.

[mbarker12474]

Hopefully it will dry up and blow away.

[Organic Panic]

But at least we will be able to take a high speed train between the metropolis cities of Bakersfield to Stockton.