http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34077757 In response to the unpresidented drought the governor called for an across the board 25% cut in water use by citizens of this state and Republicans said it could never be done. They even called the governor a Nazi for daring to publicly ask anything of the people of this state. While, the people of California once again proved the Republicans wrong and cut over all water use by 31% year on year. Even farmers, the state's perpetual socialist welfare queens who thought they were entitled to limitless virtually free water provided by the state have switched to less water intensive crops and over all farm output is actually up despite the water cuts. When you challenge people to reach for a needed goal they can indeed make good things happen. The state is also making big strides not only in water efficiency but also in increasing supply extending recycled water systems and building new desalination plants. The one here in San Diego is on schedule to start next year.
It turns out despite Republican claims to the country the state's farmers could indeed dramatically improve their water efficiency even while increasing farm output. It turns out big ag just didn't want to invest the money in more efficient irrigation systems as water was practically free (some areas had their prices set in 1905 at $0.01 per 10,000 acre feet and it has never changed in the last 110 years). When it was virtually free they didn't care how wasteful or inefficient they were but once there was a market price attached (even a very highly regulated and even more highly subsidized rate), well, suddenly they started to switch from flood irrigation (the most wasteful and inefficient) to broadcast irrigation or even drip irrigation. Even smarter the state said they would punish farms which didn't meet the water savings goal by removing part of their supply from the state system. Water consumption went down dramatically yet total farm output kept rising. Exactly how everyone but Republicans said it would happen.
