California’s “mega-drought” has been caused more by water mismanagement than “global warming.”
As I have foreseen, the state’s drought cycle is the pad for Governor Jerry Brown to launch new rules. This time, Brown is issuing the state’s first set of water restrictions.
Brown ordered the California Water Resources Control Board to implement mandatory restrictions to reduce water usage by 25%. The water savings are expected to amount to 1.5 million acre-feet of water over the next nine months.Other elements of Brown’s order would:–Require golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscaped spaces to reduce water consumption.–Replace 50 million square feet of lawn statewide with drought-tolerant landscaping as part of a partnership with local governments.–Create a statewide rebate program to replace old appliances with more water- and energy-efficient ones.–Require new homes to have water-efficient drip irrigation if developers want to use potable water for landscaping.–Ban the watering of ornamental grass on public street medians.–Call on water agencies to implement new pricing models that discourage excessive water use.–Require agriculturalists to report more water usage information to the state so that regulators can better find waste and improper activities.
About the new rules, Brown said: “It’s a different world. “We have to act differently.”
This statement is laughable, as Brown is acting exactly as Democratic politicos have always done in this state: impose the rules, then tax/fine people when they can’t adhere to them. For example, Californians have already been dinged $500 a day for wasting water.
So, based on the above rules, I expect taxpayers will be paying for all the new and improved landscaping, as well as for the appliance rebates. We will also be charged for more bureaucrats to oversee all those pesky golf courses and cemeteries, to ensure they have and are implementing “water reduction plans”.
And I am sure that those “new pricing models” will not cost us Californians more…..APRIL FOOLS! (One day late, but still.)
The more things change, the more things stay the same.
It looks like pools may become an endangered species…just in time for the summer.
Pools have been part of California’s lifestyle for decades, but as the state struggles through its fourth year of a worsening drought, communities are putting bans on filling pools or restricting new pool construction.A handful of cities and water districts statewide have implemented restrictions on swimming pools, ranging from moratoriums on swimming pool construction to restrictions on draining and refilling pools. The California Pool and Spa Association, a trade group, has responded to restrictions with a “Let’s Pool Together” campaign that gives consumers tips on being more water-efficient.”They’re trying to hammer us with the ‘we’re the culprits’ because we do pools,” said Blaine Enbody, who runs Enbody Custom Pools in Moorpark. “But if homeowners put in (landscaping), they are wasting more water than if they had a pool.”
Who would have thought that pool care companies would be the new environmental villains?
Residents of some areas of the state have noticed the water running out of their taps tastes “sour.” And while officials indicate it is safe to drink, Californians once again are paying more for less.
But, at least we have sunshine.
Victor Davis Hanson offered some great insights about how bureaucratic, do-gooder environmentalism has lead to our water woes in “The Scorching of California – How Green extremists made a bad drought worse.” As another example of the water-control complexities within this state, it is being reported that plans for water transfer between the Central and Southern part of our state may be thwarted because of water right rules:
On March 10 the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California authorized $71 million to secure 70,000 acre-feet of additional raw water supplies via the water market for 2015. However, on March 11, the Chico Enterprise-Record reported rice farmers with senior water rights were predisposed to not transfer water to MWD if their state water allocation this year is cut.
As the Obama presidency has made everyone nostalgic for the 1970’s, Jerry Brown is often mentioned as a potential candidate. If he does run, I am sure he will say that he “turned California around”.
I will throw some cold water on that claim…if I can pay for it.
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