SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Jerry Brown issued mandatory water restrictions for the first time across the state to reduce water usage by 25 percent, according to a news release from NBCNews.com.
Brown, standing on dry grass from Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada — which is usually covered in up to five feet of snow this time of the year — issued an executive order, explaining in a statement California’s drought “demands unprecedented action,” stated the release.
The release reported that snow built up over the winter season in California provides a significant measure of the amount of available water for the state’s taps and irrigation systems in the months to come.
Frank Gehrke, chief of snow surveys with the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR), recently told NBC News that this year appears to be the lowest snow pack on record going back over 70 years for several snow courses, continued the release, and CDWR reported snow surveys across the state for the start of April were at approximately five percent of their average.
According to Brown’s office, the 25 percent cut in water use made in the executive order amounts to approximately 1.5 million acre-feet of water in nine months, noted the release.
Read the entire release here.
You can find a press release from CA.gov on the executive order here.
