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CA requiring cities to institute long-term water cuts (it's about time!) [1]

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Date: 2023-10-04  

One year of flooding and a possible year of super El Niño do not a megadrought negate. California is a Mediterrnean climate at the coasts, dry to desert inland, and alpine in the mountains, without enough rainfall or snow runoff to support current water usage rates even in the wettest of times. And that’s before factoring in climate chaos.

Which is why the state has finally decided that the water conservation practices we discovered over multiple droughts need to be implemented all the time. Specifically, a new regulation (the result of 2 bills signed in 2018, so you can’t accuse us of rushing things) will require water agencies across the state to cut back water usage by substantial amounts. From The Chronicle:

The regulation is the product of two bills signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 after last decade’s drought. They call for strict efficiency standards for urban suppliers with the goal of preparing California for hotter, drier bouts of weather expected with climate change. [snip] Others in the Bay Area will have to take more drastic measures. Utilities in Martinez, Livermore and Foster City will have to achieve double-digit reductions by 2030, according to state estimates. Even more severe cuts will be required in the Central Valley and Southern California, where larger properties and a drier climate generally yield greater water use. In some cases, reductions of more than 50% will be mandated by 2035. In total, about 80% of water agencies in California will be forced to cut back within the next 12 years, according to state estimates.

Of course there are agencies protesting, mostly in the Central Valley and SoCal. But regulations in advance of scarcity are more equitable in almost every case when compared to reacting after a disaster starts to unfold.

The entire story is here.

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