Newsom fails (again) to lead during drought
As California's devastating drought worsens, Gov. Gavin Newsom's leadership has run dry.
The U.S. Drought Monitor reports that 93% of the state is in a severe drought. Levels at California's major reservoirs have dropped to frightening levels. As of Monday, the state's largest reservoir, Shasta, was only 38% full. The next largest, Oroville, was 47% full.
Yet, with no signs that this historic drought is relenting, Newsom on Monday again refused to impose mandatory water restrictions on urban users.
Instead, our spineless governor ordered the state's 420 water agencies, which serve 90% of California residents, to tighten their water conservation rules, allowing each provider to set its own plan.
No statewide water reduction goal. No set of simple rules for Californians to follow. No equal sacrifice for the benefit of all. No leadership from the top.
Talk about passing the buck. Now the responsibility for setting water-use rules falls largely to the water districts, which are disincentivized to crack down on consumption because that would cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue. Their only alternative is increasing user rates to offset the shortfall.
And the burden of communicating what restrictions Californians must follow now falls to those individual water districts, which don't have the governor's bully pulpit. Prepare for a confusing jumble of rules and rates as each district is forced to go it alone.
But, in an election year, the governor can now claim that he's not to blame for any of the pain from conservation or higher water rates. What a cop-out.
Contrast Newsom's leadership to that shown by Gov. Jerry Brown. In April 2015, following three years of drought in which Californians failed to meet voluntary conservation targets, Brown issued an order requiring 25% mandatory urban water use reductions with targets and fines for agencies that failed to comply.
“The historic drought demands unprecedented action,” Brown said. Brown's restrictions worked. During the 11 months the rules were in effect, Californians cut their water use by 24.5%. And then a series of major storms ended the drought in 2017.
It was real leadership, something Newsom could have shown weeks ago when a historically dry January followed the big storms of October and December.
Instead, while the state runs dry, Newsom has fiddled. He imposed some rules in January that included restrictions on washing cars with hoses lacking shut-off nozzles, outdoor watering that results in excessive runoff into the street and sidewalks, and using water for landscaping and irrigation 48 hours after measurable rainfall. But in that same month, Californians responded by increasing their water use 2.6% compared with January 2020, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.
California is in no position to gamble that this fall will bring heavy rain and snow to the state. Mandatory restrictions are needed before the state's reservoirs run dry. Sadly, the governor isn't prepared to meet the moment.