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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We are reading about a severe drought in England. We in California get severe droughts every few years and so I thought I might offer some insights from one who has been thru it at least twice before.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We have insufficient reservoirs for the population, making it perfectly clear we need to build more (and the state has the money to do that) but our environmentalist lobby is very powerful and can usually block that anywhere it is proposed. So… the water authorities do what they can: buy water from farmers in the central valley who grow rice in that parched land by diverting water from the Sacramento River. They were doing that since before there was any problem, so they have water rights for eternity. So… we buy water from them.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Now we are in a severe drought, so the water authorities are asking residents to cut back voluntarily on water usage, but this leads to a paradox. The first part of the cut is easy: just let your lawn die. But eventually, if that isn’t enough, they say they can mandate water reduction by law. I don’t know if that is true, but if it is, then a resident is advised to not cut at all during voluntary water reduction, because what we use now sets a baseline for the mandatory reduction of that happens. So we could just let our lawn die, while those who did that already hafta find the next 20% reduction, which is waaaay harder to do than the first 20%.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So… a period of requested voluntary water reduction may cause more harm than good, if they say there is a theoretical legal construct which would allow the state to mandate water reduction. People who have been here before know to keep using water at the baseline level, or perhaps increase it, to establish the level from which the mandate would require reduction. Following that to its logical conclusion: when voluntary water usage is requested, a homeowner should immediately increase water usage 20% to increase the baseline, then if mandates come along and are found to be legal, one reduces to the previous water use.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In the meantime… the state authorized the construction of a new reservoir in Calusa County. Score!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike <o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>