California only has about one year’s supply of water left

[Norgy]

I guess they get onboard the westbound 747. And don't think before deciding what to do. That talk of opportunity, TV breaks and movies, sure rang true.

Great song!   

My mum told me she was singing it when giving birth to me.
I grew up with the radio always on. "It Never Rains In Southern California" along with "Hotel California" are early memories from my childhood. I think my mum used to play a lot of Cat Stevens and Elvis. I grew to get my own taste, but the 70s classics and Beatles and Elvis will always be there. If someone mentions a rose garden, I'll say I beg your pardon.

[Caliga]

I've spent a total of about six weeks in Southern California and it only rained one day, and only for about ten minutes.

[KRonn]

I guess they get onboard the westbound 747. And don't think before deciding what to do. That talk of opportunity, TV breaks and movies, sure rang true.

Great song!   

My mum told me she was singing it when giving birth to me.
I grew up with the radio always on. "It Never Rains In Southern California" along with "Hotel California" are early memories from my childhood. I think my mum used to play a lot of Cat Stevens and Elvis. I grew to get my own taste, but the 70s classics and Beatles and Elvis will always be there. If someone mentions a rose garden, I'll say I beg your pardon.

Some of my favorite songs, singers and groups there.
Mamas and the Pappas, Mama Cass, John and Michelle Phillips. Great oldies! But now, all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey.

[grumbler]

Some of my favorite songs, singers and groups there.
Mamas and the Pappas, Mama Cass, John and Michelle Phillips. Great oldies! But now, all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey.

I've been for a walk on a winter's day, and realized that Momma Cass probably was the greatest female vocalist of them all.  She'd be safe and warm if she was in L.A.

San Francisco is another one of those almost-bubblegum-lyrics songs (let's face it - California Dreamin's lyrics are also pretty superficial) that I like a lot, for no particular reason other than nostalgia.

[crazy canuck]

California Dreamin's lyrics are also pretty superficial) that I like a lot, for no particular reason other than nostalgia.

Great, now I can't get that song out of my head

[garbon]

Will Joni Mitchell now have to stay in the South of France with the gigolo who stole her camera? 

My go to song when I fly to Cali.

[jimmy olsen]

Way too late to matter.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/california-drought/california-imposes-unprecedented-statewide-water-restrictions-n334096

California Imposes Unprecedented Statewide Water Restrictions

By Anna R. Schecter, Matthew DeLuca and Patrick J. Rizzo
 
In a historic move, California is ordering water use to be slashed by 25 percent across the state to deal with a drought that just won't quit.

With more than 98 percent of the state suffering from a drought that has stretched into its fourth year, Governor Jerry Brown issued an executive order from the mostly snow-bare Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada mountains -- an area that would usually have snow pack more than 66 inches deep at this time of year.

"Today we are standing on dry grass where there should be five feet of snow. This historic drought demands unprecedented action," Brown said in a statement. "Therefore, I'm issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reductions across our state. As Californians, we must pull together and save water in every way possible."

Similar measures were considered during California's 1970s drought but were never implemented, according to the governor's office.

Brown announced the emergency measures at one of the regular surveys researchers take of the snow pack at what in wetter, colder times is a popular ski destination. Snow built up over the winter provides an important measure of the amount of water that will be available for California's taps and irrigation systems in the months to come.

Even before the governor's order on Wednesday, that supply wasn't looking good. Statewide, snow surveys were at about 5 percent of their average for the start of April, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

"This year looks like the lowest snow pack on record going back 70-plus years for many snow courses," Frank Gehrke, chief of snow surveys with the CDWR, told NBC News last week. Gehrke also conducted the measurement on Wednesday. "And that has very severe ramifications for what's going to flow into the reservoirs come next spring and summer."

The state has been instituting increasingly urgent steps to combat the drought. Gov. Brown declared a state of emergency more than a year ago, saying that "the magnitude of the severe drought conditions presents threats beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment and facilities of any single local government and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat." Late last month, he signed emergency legislation to fast-track $1 billion for drought relief and water conservation projects.

He has already called on businesses, farms and people in California to cut water use by 20 percent.

The executive order issued by the governor on Wednesday requires the State Water Resources Control Board to trim water use by 25 percent, which Brown's office says amounts to 1.5 million acre-feet of water over nine months.

Some locations in the Sierra Nevada are at 2 percent of what would be considered normal levels of snowpack over a 30-year period, according to experts, who consider April 1st to be the peak snowpack date for the region.

"April 1st is kind of what we hang our hat on," said Prof. Michael Strobel, Director, National Water and Climate Center Program Manager, Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting. He said that many locations reached their peak earlier and have been in decline for a few weeks already. Some are already snow-free.

"It's a pretty dire situation," said Strobel.

The snowpack is crucial for managing California's water supply, especially for irrigating farms. In some locations, precipitation levels have been normal, but it has come as rain rather than snow. "It can really throw a wrench in the gears for farms," said Strobel.

Polls have shown that Californians are worried about both the long- and short-term effects of the drought. A recent survey from the Public Policy Institute of California said that 66 percent of adults don't think their area of the state is doing enough. Sixty-nine percent of respondents in that poll said they were worried that the amount of water in their area a decade from now would be "somewhat inadequate" or "very inadequate."

To date, however, most residents have said they prefer voluntary cuts in water use to government-ordered rationing, with 34 percent saying mandatory measures should be taken in a Field Poll released in February.

[crazy canuck]

I was watching the China Syndrome the other day.  It was made in 1979 in California.  I struck me how green everything was.

[Caliga]

Glad I got outta there before this shit started. 

[Neil]

Of course people favour voluntary rationing.  That way, they can ignore it.

[Eddie Teach]

Would you be willing to stop flushing after you pee for marginally cheaper avocados?

[Tonitrus]

The glorious hydro revolution should torch the lawns of all those that dare use their sprinklers.

[MadImmortalMan]

I turned my sprinklers on today.

[KRonn]

I turned my sprinklers on today.

I'm letting the snow melt do the lawn watering instead.   

[alfred russel]

Way too late to matter.

If half of your predictions of doom came to pass, we would be living mad max style by now.

I grew up in a section of southwest florida that consisted of drained swampland that was only about 6 feet above the water table and the groundwater was unsafe. There was a serious shortage of water, water restrictions, and tap water was not potable.

There were lots of dire predictions about what would happen as the area continued to develop (or even if the current population was sustainable). Today, there are far more people, the water restrictions are analogous to what they were when I was a kid, and the tap water is now potable.