Photo courtesy of time.com
in

The State that’s Seeking to be Soddened

Photo courtesy of time.com
Photo courtesy of time.com

California has always been an exciting hotspot for fun-seeking tourists, but recent visitors have started to think otherwise after finding that the only thing offered in this golden state is Not Soak City.

What once was only a short-lived conservation craze in the media has extended into years of notorious, unforgiving dryness.

In early 2014, residents first grew alarmed when meteorologists noted that the state’s rainfall was falling concerningly short of the expected quota. It wasn’t an issue for anxious Californians to adhere to the state’s mandates of ceasing wasteful water practices, but when the drought-stricken state entered its third year of dryness, residents and officials alike grew worried that the mild conservation efforts would not suffice.

Though most Californians gladly rationed their water for the sake of the state, many anonymous water guzzlers took no part in the conservation effort, able to mask their excess usage by California’s public records laws. Few agencies had gone beyond state requirements to take on the responsibility of penalizing their heavy water users.

Earlier this month, however,  governor Jerry Brown took action to regulate the state’s water supply when he signed a new bill that imposes penalties on these unidentified wasteful residents in times of governor-issued emergency drought proclamations.

Jerry Hill, the State Democratic Senator who wrote the mandate, warns water-guzzling citizens that California’s public record laws will no longer guarantee protection of wasteful practices from being publicly exposed, commenting that the bill will make it easier to identify heavy users.

“Households that guzzle water—while their neighbors and most other Californians abide by mandatory reductions—will no longer be able to hide and persist in their excess,” Hill said, according to the Mercury News.

Now, law-abiding citizens who have consistently heeded to the state’s water restriction usage can finally rejoice over the new bill that requires all citizens to do their part in preserving their resources.

Written by Johanne Milios

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *