Calif. drought-stricken cities push back
By Sharon Bernstein, Reuters
Cities set to feel the brunt of California’s mandated cutbacks in water use pushed back on Wednesday, calling a plan by regulators to demand reductions of as much as 35 percent in some communities unfair.
Water utilities in the areas surrounding the state capital of Sacramento, in line to face steep rationing despite years of conservation said factors such as leaks in the delivery system from streams and reservoirs, and the needs of big local water consumers like prisons and hospitals should be considered before a region was penalized.
“I am not against severe conservation,” said Rob Roscoe, General Manager of the Sacramento Suburban Water District, which serves about 173,000 people in Sacramento’s northeastern suburbs. “But I want everybody playing from the same rulebook.”