Just outside the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration is a large water feature. Inside that same building, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted July 22 in favor of applying the State’s emergency water shortage resolution to unincorporated portions of California’s largest geographical subdivision.
The five-member elected panel adopted a plan to restrict residential water usage and implement extensive conservation measures in unincorporated areas such as Marina del Rey. Cities such as Los Angeles and Santa Monica are not included in the Supervisors’ adopted plan.
Supervisor Don Knabe introduced a motion July 22 calling for water cutbacks in response to what is described as an “extreme drought” impacting almost 80 percent of the State.
Knabe’s motion was introduced exactly one week after the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) adopted its own emergency regulations for water conservations. The SWRCB resolution prohibited certain water uses and ordered every urban water supplier “to implement mandatory conservation measures according to their existing regulations.
For those agencies without conservation regulations in place, the SWRCB resolution asked those agencies to adopt a policy of limiting outdoor watering to two days per week.
All urban water suppliers are also required to report monthly water usage to the SWRCB. The SWRCB’s regulations go into effect Aug. 1, with the monthly reporting requirement kicking in by Oct. 15.
“The County of Los Angeles can play an important role, by reducing water use at its facilities and in assisting local water supply agencies in implementing the SWRCB regulations,” Knabe’s motion stated.
The July 22 vote directed county officials to indeed implement water conservation regulations mimicking the SWRCB resolution. Just like the water board act, the County’s resolution will also go into effect by Aug. 1.
California officials have been on drought alert for quite some time now. In January, Gov. Jerry Brown issued a drought emergency proclamation in light of what Knabe’s motion stated were “three critically dry years in California.”
“Extreme drought now covers nearly 80 percent of the State and these conditions will likely continue into the foreseeable future,” Knabe’s motion stated.
When Brown delivered his emergency proclamation in January, he reportedly asked the State’s residents and businesses to reduce their respective water use by 20 percent.
Other California cities, including Los Angeles, have already enacted their own water restriction policies in light of the State’s drought.
Recent weather conditions have not helped. According to the National Weather Service, California has experienced its warmest stretch on record between January and July of this year. Snow and rain levels for 2014 have also been below average, according to multiple news reports.
