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As extreme drought claims most of the state, California Gov. Gavin Newsom today asked Californians to voluntarily cut their water use by 15%.
The request, Newsom said, applies to businesses and agriculture as well as residents. Meeting the target could save enough water to supply 1.7 million average households for one year, according to state officials.
Speaking from windy Lopez Lake in San Luis Obispo County, Newsom stressed that the reductions are voluntary and urged Californians to make common sense cuts like looking for leaks and running full loads of laundry and dishes.
“Not here as a nanny state. And we’re not trying to be oppressive,” he said. “But nonetheless, the sober reality is such that here we are again, and we will need to proceed with the lessons learned from the last drought.”
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Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an expanded drought emergency proclamation on Thursday to now cover 50 of California s 58 counties and urged residents to cut water consumption by 15%.
The amended proclamation, which builds on two previous declarations from April and May and adds nine counties to the list, allows counties to forgo certain regulatory requirements to address drought conditions more easily, among other things.
Newsom also signed an executive order promoting water conservation, which he pitched as a way of life in California, urging residents to take common sense water use reduction measures, such as lowering irrigation volume and shortening shower times.
Governor Gavin Newsom visits Central Coast amid ongoing drought
and last updated 2021-07-09 11:37:25-04
Governor Gavin Newsom visited the Central Coast on Thursday to discuss drought conditions and sign some drought-related orders.
Lopez Lake is at 34% capacity while Lake Nacimiento is sitting at 20% and Santa Margarita is at 64%.
According to Governor Newsom, one factor is climate change.
âThe hots are getting a lot hotter. The dries are getting a lot dryer,â Governor Newsom said.
âIn the past week, temperatures as high as 17 degrees above average have exacerbated drought conditions across the entire American West,â said Wade Crowfoot, California Natural Resources Secretary.
San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and other counties are added to the state s drought emergency
Gov. Gavin Newsom and interpreter Julia Townsend stand at the edge of a diminished Lopez Lake near Arroyo Grande. The lake was at 34.7% capacity and the governor asked the state to save water. Lopez Lake provides drinking water to the Five Cities community of Arroyo Grande, Avila Beach, Grover Beach, Oceano and Pismo Beach. (David Middlecamp / San Luis Obispo Tribune story) By Kaytlyn Leslie, Mackenzie Shuman, and Lindsey Holden for The San Luis Obispo Tribune
July 8, 2021
| 4:23 p.m.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom visited San Luis Obispo County on Thursday to discuss the ongoing drought and proposed investments to address water resiliency.
Californians Asked To Voluntarily Cut Water Usage Amid Historic Drought
Gov. Gavin Newsom asked people in California to cut their water usage by 15% as reservoirs hit dangerously low levels.
Adam Beam
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday asked people and businesses in the nation’s most populous state to voluntarily cut how much water they use by 15% as the Western United States weathers a drought that is rapidly emptying reservoirs relied on for agriculture, drinking water and fish habitat.
The water conservation is not mandatory, but it demonstrates the growing challenges of a drought that will only worsen throughout the summer and fall and is tied to more intense wildfires and heat waves. Temperatures in parts of the region are spiking again this week but are less extreme than the record heat wave that may have caused hundreds of deaths in the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia in late June.