Officials in California declared a water emergency on Tuesday, ordering six million people to cut their outdoor watering.
Residents in the southern state counties of Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino have been told to limit outdoor watering to just one day per week in an unprecendented move to tackle water shortages.
“We are seeing conditions unlike anything we have seen before,” said Adel Hagekhalil, the district’s general manager. “We need serious demand reductions.”
The restrictions will be in place until June 1, and will significantly limit how much people can use water to tend to their lawns or wash their cars.
The decision, taken by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, will apply to areas that depend on water from the drought-stricken State Water Project.
The State Water Project is a system of canals, pipelines, reservoirs and hydroelectric power plants that supplies water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland.
“Due to the depth and duration of the current drought, Metropolitan cannot meet normal demands in the State Water Project dependent area with existing resources,” officials said in a document outlining the action.
The Metropolitan Water District board voted unanimously to restrict “non-essential water use” in a move it has never taken before, but now feels compelled to with major reserviors in the state at low levels.
California’s drought, now in its third year, has become the driest on record.
Experts say it has been intensified by hotter temperatures sparked by climate change.
“We’re working together to solve what is a really, really tough and, quite frankly, unprecedented issue. None of us like what we’re doing. But we’re in a position where we’ve got to do it,” Steve Blois, an Metropolitan Water District board member, told the LA Times.
“The issue is, how are we going to get through this current drought without running out of water to serve the health and safety needs of our population? That has to be our No. 1 priority.”
The emergency measures have been criticised, with some saying it will have a detrimental environmental impact including killing trees and having parks with dead grass.
However, board members say if the steps do not work it could lead to harsher measures such as a total ban on outdoor watering.
Water suppliers that fail to comply with the new measures could face large fines for exceeding their monthly allowances.
