H2O - Plenty of Restrictions

It could not be clearer to those who can see-- we Californians will never have enough water.  What is completely muddy to me is why our politicians and leaders don't see that and thus decline to do anything about it EXCEPT add more usage restrictions.  Yesterday's Chronicle notes

Recognizing California’s increasing propensity for parched weather — this winter being no exception — state water officials are planning to resurrect many of the temporary water restrictions that were enacted during the recent five-year dry spell and make them permanent.  “These rules are about a larger suite of actions designed to build resilience to future droughts and climate change,” said Max Gomberg, a senior environmental scientist for the state water board.

Translation:  Get ready for even more draconian restrictions.  Here are the proposed restrictions:

• Watering lawns in a manner that causes runoff
• Using a hose without a shut-off valve to wash a car
• Hosing down driveways and sidewalks with potable water (like any of us have much access to any other kind of water!)
• Using potable water in a fountain or decorative water feature (like I said.....)
• Watering within 48 hours of rain (So you all stay home and manage your sprinkler timers)
• Irrigation of median strips by cities and counties (Nice for a City of Trees...NOT!)
• Laundering of towels and linens at hotels without first asking guests (Waste of time, it happens all the time)
• Residents being punished by homeowner associations, cities or counties for practicing water conservation

And in the meantime, leaders cannot figure out how to restrain over-development even when they know it's the right thing to do for the community even aside from a lack of future water as noted here.   Creating mock affordable housing to squeeze even more people into the Bay Area makes even less sense.

Comments

[resident]

I just love that the bozos at Caltrans leave the Flooding signs on El Camino. We just got 2 minutes of rain this afternoon and maybe there was some floding because they can't be bothered to fix the drains.

[Cassandra]

Stop HSR. Build dams.

[Joe]

From the SacBee:

The drought may be over, but California residents should prepare themselves for new and more permanent restrictions on water use.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a pair of bills Thursday to set permanent overall targets for indoor and outdoor water consumption.

Assembly Bill 1668 by Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, and Senate Bill 606 from state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, give water districts more flexibility than the strict cuts mandated under Brown’s emergency drought order and will eventually allow state regulators to assess thousands of dollars in fines against jurisdictions that do not meet the goals.
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So the natural reaction to that must be "Hey, how do we build more dense housing so that we can address the "affordability crisis", right? Makes sense.