SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Washington Insider Magazine) – Californians will be required to reduce their water consumption even further, state officials said Monday, warning that water shortages will influence the state’s future.
According to ABC NEWS, officials of Governor Gavin Newsom’s cabinet believe that enabling local retailers to determine conservation goals is the best strategy in a state of over 40 million people with varying water demands.
Following the aftermath of a record dry January through March, California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Jared Blumenfeld spoke with the journalists after Newsom, a Democrat, signed an executive order outlining additional initiatives targeted at lowering water consumption. The governor has already urged all Californians to cut their water consumption by 15% by 2020, but this is not a mandate, and overall savings so far are at 6%.
California, like much of the United States West, is experiencing extreme or severe drought throughout the majority of its territory. Despite the fact that it poured on both ends of the state on Monday, state authorities provided a sobering evaluation of the state’s water situation.
Drought action plans outlining 6 levels of conservation efforts depending on water shortage must be submitted to the state by around 385 cities as well as other local water districts. As water becomes extremely scarce, local water districts put more strict restrictions on how and when individuals can use it. More than 36 million individuals, or more than 90% of the state’s population, are supplied by these suppliers.
The State Water Resources Control Board is being directed by Newsom’s executive order to explore compelling those local suppliers to go to the second level of their conservation programs, which anticipates a 20% water scarcity. At this level, over 140 cities and merchants are now functioning.
Level 2 restrictions vary depending on the demands of the local district, but usually limit when individuals may use water for outdoor uses or provide incentives for people to build more energy-efficient gardens or appliances. Level two, for example, in Sacramento restricts watering of public places such as cemeteries and parks, requires individuals to turn off ornamental water features such as fountains, and enhances water patrols. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power proposes to limit outdoor watering, boost outreach to high water users, and enhance water conservation incentives and rebates.
Newsom’s executive order also requests that the state water board explore prohibiting the watering of grass that is only for decorative purposes, including as grass in office parking lots or on highway medians. Baseball fields and parks, for example, are unlikely to be affected. According to Newsom’s administration, prohibiting the watering of such grass may save an amount of water comparable to that consumed by more than half a million houses each year.
The order establishes permits regulations for new wells to help ensure that they do not overflow freshwater that people are relying on for drinking, in addition to restricting outdoor watering and encouraging more conservation. It also makes it easier to get permits for groundwater recharge initiatives and to preserve drought-stricken fish and wildlife, such as salmon. He’s also ordered the state water board to increase inspections to catch unlawful water diversions.
Groundwater accounts for nearly a third of the state’s fresh water supply in non-drought years. During droughts, when state reservoirs and mountain snowpack are depleted, the state relies on groundwater for nearly two-thirds of its supply, according to Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency.
