Calif. weighs renewing drought-era water restrictions
By Jonathan J. Cooper, AP
SACRAMENTO — A proposal to make California’s drought-era water restrictions permanent could allow the state to chip away at long-held water rights in an unprecedented power grab, representatives from water districts and other users told regulators this week.
Members of the state Water Resources Control Board delayed a decision about whether to bring back what had been temporary water bans from California’s drought, spanning 2013 to 2017. The plan is part of an effort to make water conservation a way of life, with climate change expected to lead to longer, more severe droughts.
It comes after U.S. officials declared that nearly half the state, all of it in the south, is back in drought just months after emerging from it.