Whether it’s forcing constituents to purchase electric cars or allowing criminals to run rampant in the streets, California is riddled with problems.
California has always been quick with a solution looking for a supposed problem.
But now California has a new proposal that will make the life of every Californian absolutely miserable.
California proposes water rationing
The California State Water Board held a hearing in October to discuss how it would implement a new bill passed by the state legislature in 2022.
Senate Bill 1157 lowers indoor water-use standards and will limit water usage to 47 gallons per person beginning in 2025, then lower it to 42 gallons by 2030.
The hearing was titled “Making Water Conservation a Way of Life,” but rationing water to residents seems to be a much more appropriate term.
Despite this new attempt to ration water, the reality is that total urban water consumption in California has been declining since the mid-1990s.
Urban water consumption was just over 7 million acre-feet (MAF) per year in 2022, which is the lowest it’s been since 1985 – and that’s when the state’s population was 13 million people fewer than it is today.
However, the water bureaucrats and environmental organizations in California plan to move forward to implement S.B. 1157, saying the goal is to reduce water consumption there by 400,000 acre-feet per year by 2030.
To put things into perspective, this reduction would equate to barely more than one-half of 1 percent of the total amount of water the state diverts and manages by capturing rainfall and releasing it from reservoirs, even during a serious drought.
It appears that there are already changes being made in California, as some people claim faucets in commercial buildings and airports barely produce enough water to wash hands, and they automatically turn off before most people can remove the soap.
New eco-friendly washing machines that barely use any water toss and turn clothes causing damage and tend to take hours to complete a single cycle, which may not get clothes completely clean the first time.
Many also say that dishwashers are so “weak” that they have to wash them by hand before loading them into the appliance, and flow restrictions put on showerheads are making it difficult to rinse shampoo clean from hair.
Yet despite these annoyances, state legislators feel that the current measures simply aren’t enough.
The data proves California wrong
For a state so hellbent on conservation, it seems that lawmakers are oblivious to the data.
Many areas in the state are no longer allowed to have lawns with real grass and trees.
But according to the U.S. Department of Energy, grass lawns are approximately 30 degrees cooler on average than asphalt and as much as 40 degrees cooler than artificial turf.
Real lawns lower the urban heat island effect which could help to reduce the usage of power-hungry air conditioning in businesses and homes, yet California is banning lawns on commercial properties and will likely extend it to homeowners in the future.
Many more data points prove water usage isn’t the problem, but it doesn’t seem to be stopping lawmakers from moving forward with what is effectively rationing a crucial resource.
Once the law is in effect, who knows what the repercussions will be to citizens who happen to go over the newly restricted water levels.
Informed American will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
