Kevin Kiley: “We have had a series of very heavy storms in California. We have gotten a lot of water, and I wanted to take a moment to…”

“We have had a series of very heavy storms in California. We have gotten a lot of water, and I wanted to take a moment to talk about what is happening to that water. This is a photo I took a few days ago at the Folsom Dam; 20,000 cubic feet is being released per second where it is sent on its way to the Pacific Ocean. That staggering amount of water is not available to California farmers, businesses, or residents. Meanwhile, State-sponsored billboards tell people to put a bucket in their shower so they can save that water for gardening. Restaurants are prohibited from serving their customers drinking water unless the customer specifically asks for it. Here are some of the other emergency drought restrictions that have been in effect: Turn off decorative water fountains. Use an automatic shutoff nozzle on your water hose. Use a broom, not water to clean sidewalks and driveways. Commercial, industrial, and institutional decorative grass should not be watered; same for the common areas in homeowner associations. Down here you can see all the enforcement, all the penalties if you don't follow this. It says here, for local jurisdictions, for urban water suppliers, if needed, exercise authority to adopt more stringent local conservation measures. Some local authorities have done just that. The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District began sending government employees into residents' homes to install flow restrictors.…”