California Adopts Permanent Water Restrictions

[LowDown]

California's legislature passed a bill requiring restrictions on indoor water use that are permanent. The rule will be 55 gallons of water per person per day. This would be a good shower and a single load of clothing in the washer. Fines start at $500 a day for violations.

Current usage in California with drought restrictions is about 65 gallons a person a day.

I suppose they will be going to Arizona style rock lawns or something.

All I can find in the California papers is that the government will call on citizens to rat out violators among neighbors, although just how one's neighbors are gonna know how much water you use indoors isn't clear.

Rumors have gone out that they will use bathroom police empowered to enter your home without a warrant, satellite images (for lawn watering, I suppose), and reports of usage from the water utility. But I can't find any confirmation of this. Maybe someone knows about it?

All of this could have been unnecessary if California had followed through on the water plan for the state adopted back in the '50s. It called for 5 to 7 (as I recall) additional reservoirs that were never built because of environmentalists. If those reservoirs existed then California could have weathered the recent drought. Even back in the '50s they knew that California was subject to long droughts, and so the water plan factored in the need for a reserve.

In any case, the blue government there is wasting no time in vastly expanding its power.

They are not liberals. They are authoritarian leftists. Like Venezuela.

Farmers had to idle 500,000 acres of farm land last year. If the government messes up the food supply there will be hell to pay.

With the restrictions in full effect about 1% of California's total water usage will be saved.

 

[Phys251]

In other words, conservation is bad, and people should be free to waste as much water as they want. :roll:

 

[OrphanSlug]

This is how it starts.

This is not about "conservation," it is about California appealing to authoritarianism to deal with a problem they alone are responsible for. There was an answer, and environmentalists did not allow it to happen in expanding the water supply to deal with population growth, farming needs, and drought conditions.

 

[Amelia]

55 gallons a day is the target for 2022. 50 gallons for 2030. That leaves some time for innovation to figure out how to reach that goal.

It's a big change from the 90 gallons per day used in 2017.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article211333594.html

I suppose if those targets still seem out of reach in 2021, the state will make allowances to prevent a revolt. But they're giving it a shot. You can't win if you don't enter.

 

[AliHajiSheik]

Maybe they could harvest water from the dead and issue stillsuits to the masses.

 

[maxparrish]

Maybe they could harvest water from the dead and issue stillsuits to the masses.

Dune?

 

[maxparrish]

55 gallons a day is the target for 2022. 50 gallons for 2030. That leaves some time for innovation to figure out how to reach that goal.

It's a big change from the 90 gallons per day used in 2017.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article211333594.html

I suppose if those targets still seem out of reach in 2021, the state will make allowances to prevent a revolt. But they're giving it a shot. You can't win if you don't enter.

Had California not experienced 85 percent of its growth since 1970 from foreign immigration, its unlikely we would be having to sacrifice our quality of life - but then, everyone keeps telling each other that boundless population explosions are a good thing...right?

 

[Hawkeye10]

It is cheaper to force citizens to use less water than it is to find new water and to stop the leaks in the pipes where a lot of it is lost.

 

[AliHajiSheik]

Dune?

Someday, perhaps

 

[Jack Hays]

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[h=1]What drought? California snowpack is now above normal[/h][FONT=&quot]Here’s some good news from the “weather not climate” department. The latest series of storms, part of an “atmospheric river” pattern, have increased California’s snowpack to anywhere from 110 to 115% above normal for this time of year. The latest data from the Department of Water Resources shows that statewide average is above normal. Source: Apache Tomcat/7.0.78 - Error report
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