“policymakers spend too much time worrying about how much water Californians use to run their households—and too little time figuring out how to bring more water into our system. The state hasn’t built significant water infrastructure since Didion penned that essay—when the state had 17.6-million fewer residents.
Five years ago, Jerry Brown announced the official end of a grueling six-year drought. Other than passing resolutions to “make conservation a way of life,” the former governor didn’t do much to improve the situation. After rains resumed, interest waned in fixing our water supply issues.
These days, the Newsom administration and Legislature have done little more than engage in water shaming. They want to badger us into using less water, as the state imposes tougher water-use standards on water districts and some districts (especially in the Bay Area) embrace water rationing.
Conservation is, of course, a good idea—and local districts that manage depleted reservoirs perhaps have no choice but to issue water-use edicts. But there’s a better way forward than encouraging people to report their water-wasting neighbors to the authorities.”
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“California has a $97.5-billion surplus. Now’s the time to invest in water facilities, but instead the administration is squandering money on other things—and then blaming us for watering the begonias. Households use only 5.7 percent of our available water, so when your pipes start coughing, don’t blame yourself. Blame the state’s leaders.”