Washington, April 2
Faced by its worst drought
in history, America's richest state of California has imposed mandatory
water restrictions requiring residents, businesses, farms and even its
expansive golf courses to reduce usage by 25 percent.
"It's a
different world," state Governor Jerry Brown Brown said on Wednesday as
he issued an executive order asking cities and towns across California
to cut usage by about 325,000 gallons over the next nine months.
Officially
nicknamed the Golden State for its clear, golden coastal sunsets over
the Pacific, California, where gold was discovered in 1848, is home to
America's rich and Hollywood stars.
"We're in a new era," Brown
told reporters. "The idea of your nice little green grass getting lots
of water every day... that's going to be a thing of the past."
"This
historic drought demands unprecedented action," he said standing on a
patch of dry, brown grass in the Sierra Nevada mountains that is usually
blanketed by up to five feet of snow, according to CNN.
The
action comes as the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which Californians rely on
heavily during the summer for their water needs, is near a record low.
In
addition, Brown's executive order will impose significant cuts in water
use on campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscapes
and replace 50 million square feet of lawns throughout the state with
"drought tolerant landscaping".
A staggering 11 trillion gallons
are needed for California to recover from the emergency, CNN reported
citing an estimate based on NASA satellite data analysis of how much
water the state's reserves lack.
The entire state faces at least a
moderate drought and more than half of the state faces the worst
category of dryness, called an exceptional drought, according to the US
Drought Monitor.
Brown last year declared a state emergency,
saying his constituents were facing "perhaps the worst drought that
California has ever seen since records (began) about 100 years ago".
Last month, Brown unveiled an emergency $1 billion spending plan to tackle the state's historic drought.
As
part of the changes, Brown said additional measures will crack down on
water inefficiency as California enters the fourth year of a worsening
water crisis, including directing the many golf courses dotting the
state to use less water.
Commenting on the water crisis, the
Sacramento Bee saidP: "Brown is to be commended for heeding the alarm
bells. But California's response to this slow-motion natural disaster
has been nerve-wrackingly tentative until now.
"Groundwater
reserves are dwindling. Hydroelectric turbines have slowed, lacking
water to power them. Yosemite's Half Dome, typically snowbound in
spring, is bald to the granite," it noted saying it's "Time for
California to wake up".
