Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the addition Thursday of five more counties in the greater Bay Area to the state’s emergency drought proclamation while calling on all state residents to reduce their water use by 15 percent.
Marin, Monterey, San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties were among the nine counties added to the proclamation, which now includes 50 of the state’s 58 counties and roughly 42 percent of the state’s population.
In the Bay Area, Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa and Solano counties have already been placed under a drought emergency since May.
Newsom signed the initial proclamation in April to declare a drought emergency in Sonoma and Mendocino counties in light of historically low water levels in the Russian River watershed.
The proclamation “allows the ability for local water agencies as well as our state partners to be more efficient and effective in terms of moving to address issues in real time, in essence clearing away a lot of the hurdles,” Newsom said Thursday during a briefing at San Luis Obispo County’s Lopez Lake.
The water conservation order is voluntary for now, Newsom said, suggesting that state residents take small measures like reducing their time in the shower and washing more dishes and laundry in one load.
The order also applies to commercial and agricultural operations, which use significantly more water than common at-home appliances. Newsom noted that the state will face the challenge that agricultural irrigation systems often don’t even have meters to measure water usage.
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President David Canepa said the county and the state in general face an ultimatum to conserve water now or “suffer later.”
“We must take the drought seriously and take voluntary efforts to reduce water usage before it becomes a mandate,” he said in a statement.
Newsom said the state plans to utilize some $5.1 billion to invest in water-saving efforts and irrigation modernization as drought conditions extend into the coming years.
“We are in a position that is a little bit more advantageous than the last time we went through a multi-year drought,” 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.”
What are they going to do if there is two more years of drought? These dufuses can’t even tie their own shoes. The Pacific is filled with water. Now they are talking about cleaning waste water they have no way of delivering. If they were smart enough to make enough for just crops than they may do something but it wouldn’t get done for years. We have billions for social programs though. This is too stupid to comprehend.
we will need to proceed with the lessons learned from the last drought.”
oh you mean jacking up water prices because we conserved
and water company didnt manage properly
Did he actually say “ mandate” ?!! Newsom is unbelievable!!!
Stop draining our reservoirs !!!!
Recall!!!!
Aren’t they planning on emptying a reservoir (Santa Clara I think, Andersen Dam) for needed upgrades? I say wait until its empty from use…..
Or truck the water out or something other than drain it mid-drought.
Offer real incentives for homeowners who want to remove lawns.
Stop sending water to farmers in SoCal who ship their product out of the country. (Many documentaries on this, Water Wars).
I believe Farmers should get water! But no water for swimming pools in L.A. !
Either way I’m not really worried. Being a lifelong California I’ve seen this before. It:s the normal cycle…. along with the normal rhetoric from the water companies and government officials ….. and the normal end-of-the-world-panic from newbies to California.
Relax, chill out, will have wet years again as sure as the dryers.
Recomend, yea we know how that will go. There should be mandatory cutbacks until this drought (one of many) is over. No watering lawns or washing your car. Anyone who disagrees, wait until you cannot flush your toilet and see how important your clean car or green lawn is.
BS…
Been thru severe droughts in many places, the water never ran out and they always said it would be so bad there wouldn’t be water for daily necessities..BS..
This stupid run state has had 50+ years to come up with a solution to this so they can stick it up theirs..
This is total B S .I will take this drought crap serious when our elected officials take it serious .Newsum is going to throw billions of dollars away to buy himself out of a recall . Wouldn’t it be better spent on building a few new reservoirs to hold water when we need it . It would create thousands of jobs and recreation for the people in this state . But liberals never solve a problem . They maintain it . So my lawn will stay green and my car will be clean .
Why is Santa Cruz considered Bay Area? It’s central coast. It doesn’t touch sf or San Pablo bay.
Santa Cruz is on the Monterey Bay, and they said Monterey County is part of the greater Bay Area. Just how far does the greater Bay Area extend? Next, they will say Sacramento, Fresno, and Redding, are in the greater Bay Area.
Oh please Lord Newsom, may I have a drop of water??
Next he will tell us to only flush your toilet ONCE A WEEK!
Lets all take a dump on his front porch!
Lol thanks for the laugh Old Otis
If Lake Oroville shuts down in August due to the drought, it could mean rotating power outages. I realize that Sacramento has made matters worse, but here we are. Our family is trying to adapt. Less garden watering, fewer showers. And we are starting to use buckets to collect clean water when we run the cold shower water to heat it up–rather than just letting it go down the drain.
At great personal sacrifice I’ve decided to cut back on water. Switching to beer. 🍺
I need to do much more water conservation like you. This drought is very serious.
One step closer to officially become a third world country due to political mismanagement. I can bet pretty much anything that Newscum and his family, Aunt Nancy included, continue to take as many showers as they please, water their enormous lawn and keep the pool fill up and well maintained. Third world country governments keep their citizens without water. What is Newscum going to offer to the newcomers who are coming here “for a better life” from south of the border? This will eventually backfire for him. Recall Newscum!
https://prepareforchange.net/2021/05/31/despite-record-breaking-drought-conditions-california-officials-are-draining-reservoirs/
https://tinyurl.com/app
Wow.
Really going to have to get inventive to reduce water consumption by another 10%.
Instead of baths on Saturday, they’ll now be every other Saturday.
The same goes for clothes. 10 days between washings instead of five days.
At least everyone will know when I’m around.
I’ve been wanting to work with cement forms.
Now I have the whole yard to experiment with.
All thanks to the grease ball and his inability to manage anything but giving tax payer money.
I’m showering once a week!………nobody has said anything……….yet
But what they think, is… you stink.
How about we shelve all Gavin’s plans for those tens of thousands of new housing units as we don’t have the water for what we already have?
No, can’t do that! Those new houses are slated by Newscum for those coming in from south of the border.
As long as the electricity is on I’ll have well water to shower with…. or I can take a swim in the river.
I can drink bottled water or more likely cold beer, use the pump to water my plants with river water….or maybe just use a bucket….. the simple life….
Without a drought!
And now for anyone left who still wants to vote for Newsom, I will leave you this Quote…” No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot”
-Mark Twain-
According to Forbes, March 17, “The top five states seeing a mass exodus are all Democrat-controlled. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, California, New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Illinois lost a combined 4 million residents between 2010 and 2019.”
So this water and housing shortage may take care of itself as California residents flee Democrat policies, annual brush fires, violent extremism, corruption, taxes, power outages and the complex humanitarian disaster that California is. Hopefully the U.N. may step in and fund refugee centers across the border in Nevada as Boko Haram picks up where BLM left off.
One drive past Newsom’s home in Marin county that sits on just over an acre of really green grass and you’ll see how that phony is conserving water. My cousin lives on his street and I was at her place on July 4th. She went out of her way to show me how the “OTHER HALF” live.
I’ll bet that Gavin’s winery gets as much water as it wants.
Yes Chris, but to be fair that lawn water is not from the municipal water supply…. it is from Gavin’s private 20,000 gallon tank of hybrid Perrier / Fiji Water.
I hear he showers with it as well.
Settled Science to Californians:
California is a desert.
Most Bay Area Cities receive less than 20 inches of rain per year, and are dry (no rain) 8-9 months a year.
Only reservoirs and wells provide you with water.
Water storage was improved in 1960 (CA Water Project). 70% of this water goes to urban and industrial use. Only 30% goes to AG.
The population of California in 1960 was 15.7 million. In 2020 it reached 39.4 million.
When you population grows, and you don’t expand water supplies (or power, transportation, etc…) you are going to have chronic shortages of water.