Well it looks as though California Legislators have decided to regulate water consumption inside of our homes. Heavy fines and over site are on the way in 2020. As reported by the Sacramento Bee
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a pair of bills to set permanent overall targets for indoor and outdoor water consumption. Assembly Bill 1668 by Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, and Senate Bill 606 from state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, give water districts more flexibility than the strict cuts mandated under Brown’s emergency drought order and will eventually allow state regulators to assess thousands of dollars in fines against jurisdictions that do not meet the goals. "In preparation for the next drought and our changing environment, we must use our precious resources wisely," Brown said in a statement. "We have efficiency goals for energy and cars – and now we have them for water.”
In a nutshell it looks as if based on these new water restrictions, people may not be able to shower, wash clothes, and wash dishes on the same day.
According to an article from "Weather Boy"
they report that this is one of the strictest water regulations in the country. They continue to report " According to the USGS, the typical person uses 80-100 gallons of water each day; this new California law will require people to use nearly half as much as before. On average, a shower uses 2-5 gallons of water per minute while taking a bath generally uses 36 gallons. Brushing your teeth consumes 1-2 gallons per minute while washing your face and/or face/leg shaving usually uses 1 gallon. A dishwasher uses 6-12 gallons while a clothes washer uses 25-40 gallons per load. Washing dishes by hand is not water efficient; it usually uses between 8-27 gallons of water. Most new toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush, although older buildings may have older toilets that use as much as 3-4 gallons per flush."
Despite California coming out of drought conditions Governor Brown has gone ahead and put unrealistic regulations onto the citizens. I guess my questions are " Why aren't we putting resources into catching and conserving rain water? Why aren't we using the incredible 5th largest economy of the world, California, and forging ahead with desalination?"
According to "Desalination Huntington Beach.com"
Desalination plants operate in more than 120 countries in the world, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, Cape Verde, Portugal, Greece, Italy, India, China, Japan, and Australia. Since early spring of this year the first US large seawater reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant began operation in Tampa, Florida. Worldwide, desalination plants produce over 3.5 billion gallons of potable water a day. The installed RO desalination plant capacity has increased in an exponential scale over the last 30 years.
Where is California going with this? Where they always go...More government regulations, more over site and more money (fines) driven legislation.
Californians need to stand up and demand the legislators to think outside of the box of more regulations and job killing laws. The science is there, why aren't we utilizing it?