Environment

California Drought

California is experiencing the worst drought in its history, and the effects are being felt nationwide. Thus water issues have taken center stage in much of our reporting and the nation's.As the New York Times says, "Water has long been a precious resource in California, the subject of battles pitting farmer against city-dweller and northern communities against southern ones; books and movies have been made about its scarcity and plunder. Water is central to the state’s identity and economy, and a symbol of how wealth and ingenuity have tamed nature ..."As we continue through a fourth year of extreme drought conditions, you'll find all of our reporting on the related issues (and that of NPR and other member stations) in this centralized place.

Californians Cut Water Use by 31% In July

North State Public Radio | By Amy Quinton

Published August 28, 2015 at 1:38 PM PDT

Californians are exceeding Gov. Jerry Brown's 25 percent water conservation mandate. Urban water use dropped 31 percent in July.

The State Water Resources Control Board is praising Californians for meeting the first mandatory conservation orders in state history for the second month in a row. The 31 percent drop in use is 4 percent higher than June.

But Board Chair Felicia Marcus warned we can’t count on an El Nino to move California out of the drought.

"There's no guarantee that we'll receive the amount of precipitation we need to beat the drought in the right places and of the right form,” she said. “We need rain and snow in the Sierras especially the Northern Sierras to make a dent in this drought."

Only four urban water suppliers were more than 15 percent away from their conservation target. Last month there were nearly four times as many. Some of them will be receiving orders for specific conservation actions they must take. The board has the option of fining those suppliers up to $500 dollars a day – but the board has said it won’t.

This story was produced by Capital Public Radio.