California on Thursday urged residents to reduce their water use by 15% and expanded the drought-related state of emergency to nearly half of the state's population.
“We have been in a drought for two years now,”
after the previous long episode of drought came to an end not long ago, State Governor Gavin Newsom said at a press conference.
He also announced that he was signing an executive order encouraging
"voluntary water conservation efforts in the state of California."
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"We hope that the people of California will keep the mindset they had during the last drought and strengthen it with a voluntary 15% reduction, not just in homes, but also in industrial, commercial and agricultural, ”
he pleaded. The governor thus asked Californians to show
"common sense"
by reducing, for example, the irrigation of lawns and taking shorter showers.
After several years of very little rainfall, dam reserves in late May in California were estimated at two-thirds of their normal level. A situation made worse by last week's heat wave in parts of the western United States and Canada. Record-breaking temperatures are still expected next weekend, with up to 53 degrees Celsius forecast for Death Valley in California.
The governor further announced that 50 of California's 58 counties are now subject to emergency measures. The drought-related state of emergency affects 42% of the population, mostly in northern and central California. It gives authorities additional powers to control resources. Among the consequences of the drought is the increased risk of fires, in a region already devastated in recent years by massive forest fires.