Gov Newsom declared a drought emergency in the state of California and urged the residents to decline the water usage. As per the authorities, it is the second driest year encountered in history.
The Governor has alerted the state’s water regulators to stop the wasteful water activities, including spraying down sidewalks. Moreover, he has asked the Emergency Service offices to fund the drinking water services as needed. However, currently no stateside water conservative mandates have been imposed in the county.
As per the Governor’s office, after the 1800s, it is the second time the state faces a drought emergency.
Gov. Newsom said in a recent statement, “As the western U.S. faces a potential third year of drought, it’s critical that Californians across the state redouble our efforts to save water in every way possible.”
“With historic investments and urgent action, the state is moving to protect our communities, businesses, and ecosystems from the immediate impacts of the drought emergency while building long-term water resilience to help the state meet the challenge of climate change impacts making droughts more common and more severe” he added.
In July 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom urged the residents to decrease water usage by 15%. In August, the state’s urban area decreased the water wastage by 5% – State’s Water Resources Control Board noted.
The coast of Southern California, which accommodates nearly half of California’s population, decreased the usage by 3.1% when last reported in August.
While most of the states have been facing the drought emergency since the 2021 summer, Tuesday’s announcement added the rest of the eight states that were not previously included in the list for drought emergency.
The states include Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, Imperial, Orange, San Bernardino, and San Francisco.
In charge of the Department of Water and Power in California, David Pettijohn said, “We think we’ll be able to manage through this year”. He also added, “Next year is the issue. And we don’t know what the water year is going to look like. Nobody can predict the weather.”
Moreover, the decreased water levels of the Colorado River will cause a drought emergency in early 2022 in the states of Nevada, Arizona, and Mexico.
