July 9 (UPI) -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging residents and businesses to reduce their water consumption by 15% as the state experiences an intensifying drought.
The Democratic governor, who is currently facing a recall vote, signed an executive order Thursday calling on Californians to reduce their water use by 15% compared to 2020 levels.
Newsom in April declared a drought emergency for two counties and later extended it to 41 counties, representing 30% of California's population.
State officials have said the two-year drought threatens to empty reservoirs, with many of them in situations like Lake Nacimiento at 20% capacity and Lake Lopez at 30%.
Gavin told reporters during a press conference Thursday at Lake Lopez that he added nine more counties to the regional drought state of emergency for a total of 50 of the state's 58 counties. Los Angeles and other large cities are not included.
He said by adding them to the declaration it will "clear hurdles" to implement measures to counteract the drought.
"The entire state is in a drought today, and to meet this urgent challenge we must all pull together and do our part to reduce water use as California continues to build a more climate resilient water system to safeguard the future of our state," he said in a statement.
According to Newsom's office, officials estimate that a 15% reduction in water use in urban settings could save as much as 850,000 acre-feet of water over the next year, enough to supply some 1.7 million households in that time.
A drought from 2012-16 forced Californians to curb their water use. According to government figures, per capita residential water use dropped 21% between 2013 and 2016 and the urban sector statewide is using 16% less water compared to 2013.
Newsom said knowledge from that experience is guiding officials through the present drought.
"We are hopeful that people in the state of California will take that mindset that we brought into the last drought and extend that forward with a 15% voluntary reduction, not only on residences but industrial, commercial operations and agricultural operations," he said.
He said they are encouraging people to do "common sense things," such as reducing landscape irrigation, fixing household leaks, installing water-efficient shower heads and shortening the length of showers, among other measures.
Restore the Delta, a grassroots organization that seeks to protect the waters of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, said Newsom's plan "is too little, too late."
"Restore the Delta and our coalition partners began warning state agencies and the Newsom administration at the end of 2020 to plan for these drought conditions," the organization's executive director, Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, said in a statement, accusing the government of letting too much of the state's water to the industrial agriculture sector.
"Our water resources and public trust resources like salmon fisheries have been squandered for almonds and other unsustainable crops," she said.
Thursday's announcement also came after Newsom in May proposed $5.1 billion in water resiliency investments over the next four years to improve the state's drought response.
"The realities of climate change are nowhere more apparent than in the increasingly frequent and severe drought challenges we face in the west and their devastating impacts on our communities, businesses and ecosystems," Newsom said Thursday.
