Sacramento Delta Water Will No Longer Be Allocated To Southern California
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Director of the California Department of Water Resources Mark Cowin Friday announced the allocation of Sacramento Delta water to Southern California is going from five percent to zero.
"Today's actions mean that everyone – farmers, fish, people – will get less water as a result, but these actions will protect us all better in the long run," Cowin told KNX1070's Mike Landa. "Simply put, there's not enough water to go around, so we need to conserve."
Cowin's statement comes in the wake of Gov. Brown's declaration of a drought emergency.
Earlier this week, Brown told KCAL9 political reporter Dave Bryan that he spoke with the president about getting federal assistance because 17 water agencies across the state could run out of water in the next 60 to 100 days.
"The president called me today. He offered to do whatever he can do. He obviously can't make it rain," he said. "But there are some parts of California that are more privileged from the point of view of water availability than others. So we have systems. We can transfer it. But there are a lot of water rights, a lot of rules, so we've got to cut through that and make sure that those who need it most get the water to the extent we have it available."
Southern California's Metropolitan Water District has a healthy water reserve, according to Landa.
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