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Tuesday, April 07, 2015

As water runs dry, Californians brace for a new way of life

PASADENA, Calif. — His lawn was thick, healthy and gorgeous, and Mike Duran was in love. “It was so green. It was so lush,” he said. But the relationship had financial issues. Watering the grass cost about $1,200 every other month in this drought-stricken state.

“The money I was spending for water, I had to make a change,” Duran said. The yard has been an arrangement of sand and cactus for three months now. “Emotionally, it took me a little time to adjust, to say the least,” he said.

When Gov. Jerry Brown (D) told Californians last week that watering grass every day is “going to be a thing of the past” and announced the first mandatory water restrictions in the state’s history, people in a region full of swimming pools, pretty lawns and flowers bursting in technicolor began to worry that the place would start to look a lot more like Arizona.

“Without water, you can’t live in California,” said Bill Whalen, who works on politics, and the politics of water, at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. “It ties into the California psyche.

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

If the California drought continues for many more years or decades, they are going to have much bigger problems to worry about than watering the lawn.

Anonymous said...

Dry liberal lol.

Anonymous said...

They created the mess... live in your doing!

Anonymous said...

global warming...No?

Anonymous said...

Build housing in the desert and let the environazis block any water improvement projects. Wala!

Anonymous said...

Wonder if the Man upstairs is pissed off a bit at this state?

Anonymous said...

Grass is overrated.

Anonymous said...

There's more to it than just this. California's farming region is a major supplier of our nation's food. The water is funneled to that, and away from lawn watering. It's government regulations choking the water supplies. Oh, and the snail darter.

Anonymous said...

It all makes sense now...Warren Buffett has been buying up water rights for the past few years. Google it...

Anonymous said...

What about Desalination plants. California is next to the pacific ocean. In other countries like Saudi Arabia, the the United Emirates they do this have have plenty of water. Why can't California do the same? I believe San Francisco has this. You can use solar power to do this if energy is an issue.