So much of the so-called water shortage in CA is propaganda created by Jerry Brown and his cohorts. Rather than build desalination plants for the past number of years, Brown would rather spend billions of dollars on a useless high speed railroad to nowhere.
I live in the Coachella Valley, the low desert of CA east of Los Angeles (Palm Springs and other desert resort cities).
Our drinking water comes from a huge underground aquifer which has been built up over thousands of years. There is more than an adequate supply of water. However, due to population growth, this area has been in overdraft in recent years. That means that we have been taking more water out than is being restored. So, the water companies here have had a major program for several years to convert the huge agricultural areas to drip irrigation from field flooding irrigation, as well as converting residential landscape to so-called desert plant landscaping. As a result, there have been major reductions in water use, and within 5 years, the overdraft situation is projected to be reversed.
In addition, the water companies have converted to using tiered pricing for residential and business use. In other words, the more you use, the higher the water price per unit used.
Most of the many golf courses here have been using recycled water for irrigation. That does two things. It provides an additional source of income for the water companies, and it provides a way to dispose of this water which cannot be used for drinking.
Jerry Brown and crew in their infinite wisdom have decreed that this entire state shall fall under control of his state water board. That board has decreed draconian water reductions for the entire state even though many areas do not have a water shortage.
In the Coachella Valley, we are being told that our water usage must be cut by 36%. If we do not do so, we will be hit with huge financial penalties. For example the surcharge for those in the highest water usage tier will result in a water rate that is 10 times the charge for the lowest tier.
One last thing, while all of this is going on, near the San Gorgonio Pass which is the entrance to our valley from the west, there is a huge water bottling plant on Indian owned land. It is taking water the comes down from the San Bernardino Mountains, water that would have been used to re-charge the underground aquifer. It is selling that bottled water to a major national bottled water company. So, water is being shipped out of this state at the same time that we are being forced to reduce our use.
Manufactured emergencies courtesy of the federal and state government.