A number of California cities are joining national water conservation challenges as some speculate mandatory restrictions could be in California’s future—just like its past.
The conservation effort, called the National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation, is a nonprofit community service campaign from April 1–30 that encourages leaders and residents across the United States to make online pledges to conserve water.
After the month is over, cities will be ranked based on the percentage of residents who took the challenge.
Cities with the highest percentage of residents taking the pledge will win the title of most “water-wise” in the nation, with various cash prizes available, including a prize of $3000 toward home utility bills.
“We are in the third year of a drought, so it is more important than ever that we take action to conserve water,” Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan said in a statement. “The National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation offers each of us a chance to do our part … it only takes a minute, and EVERY DROP COUNTS.”
When residents take the pledge, they promise to do what they can to conserve water, including washing only full loads of laundry, shortening shower time, using low-flow devices, and planting climate-appropriate plants, among other environmentally-helpful pledges.
Other cities including Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, and Dana Point have joined as well.
Gov. Gavin Newsom called on the State Water Board May 28 to consider requiring local governments to take action to conserve water, a spokesperson in the governor’s office told The Epoch Times.
“California has just experienced the driest first three months of a year in the state’s recorded history, and our precipitation levels remain critically low,” the spokesperson said.
“We all must do more to adjust and adapt. That’s why we have increased our efforts to communicate with all Californians about what they can do to conserve water and the importance of conservation amid these dry conditions.”
As the state continues its third year of a drought, there are concerns that officials could implement mandatory water restrictions, resembling what happened in 2015.
“These mayor’s challenges—I don’t think there’s anything necessarily bad about them. Where it gets my ire is when they become mandatory,” Brett Barbre, a water resources expert and former general manager of the Metropolitan Water District in Orange County, told The Epoch Times.
“I would think that the governor may try [to impose water restrictions], but my guess is he'll do it on a regional basis, not on individual agency,” Barbre said.
When mandatory water restrictions were imposed back in 2015 under Gov. Jerry Brown, the state water board told each water district to cut back. Some water districts that operated more inland and in drier climates had to cut back up to 35 percent, Barbre said.
“They would put in these mandatory penalties, and if you exceeded your ‘allotment of water,’ then you'd get fined. There were folks that got fined every single month. And it was pretty controversial at the time,” Barbre added. “That’s kind of a third-world mindset of telling people how much they can use.”
The state has continually denied permitting water storage systems for decades due to environmental reasons, leading to a lack of enough water during dry seasons, Barbre said.
In this case, Northern California has worse droughts than Southern California, which has more water storage systems.
“Conservation is good, but creating more water supplies must be priority number one in our arid region,” Steve Sheldon, president of the Orange County Water District, told The Epoch Times.
