Our governor, Jerry
Brown, has issued an executive order directing our State Water Resources
Control Board to impose on all of California’s local water supply agencies a 25
percent reduction in their water use.
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| Drought stricken Oroville Lake, which is north of Sacramento. Now how you gonna float your boat? photo: Rich Pedrocelli Associated Press |
Snowpack in the
Sierras, which gives California about 30 percent of our water supply, is right
now only about five percent of average. Yes, that’s right, five percent. That’s
the lowest recorded level going back to 1950. Locally, here in San Diego, we’ve
received about six and a half inches of precipitation for the year. Normal rainfall ranges from 10 to 12 inches a year, which usually falls from November through
March.
The
executive order leaves it to the individual agencies as to the manner in which
they might achieve their water savings. Certainly most agencies will target
gardens and lawns, which consume about 30 percent of residential water use. The
New York Times says that water conservation measures may even have us skipping
showers.
The
order directs the state to work with local agencies to replace grass with
drought tolerant landscaping. Left out of the executive order are large farms,
which use a lot of water, although the owners of large farms will be required
to give detailed water use reports to state regulators. A number of large farms
have already seen their water allocations reduced.
So
what do you think? Is this too drastic? Too little too late? Or has the
governor done the right thing?
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