Gov. Brown On California Drought: 'Rains Won't Be Enough'
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Governor Jerry Brown says he's glad to see it's finally raining in the Bay Area, but this series of storms won't do much to ease California's drought.
Brown talked trade and climate change in San Francisco on Wednesday with Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the President of Portugal, and Harold Forsyth, Peru's Ambassador to the U.S.
The governor then talked about the rain in the forecast.
"It's not going to be enough, but it's better than not having it at all," he said.
Brown said he will consider ordering mandatory rationing if conditions don't improve, but also said it's up to local water districts to impose mandatory rationing if they think they need to.
For now, many districts are asking for voluntary water cutbacks.
"I certainly encourage every local community to do exactly what they need and when it becomes necessary, for the state to take over and actually order some local communities to do things that they should be doing," Brown said.
The governor hopes the kind of climate change talks he had with the foreign officials will help prevent even worse droughts in the future.
His $687 million emergency drought relief package has cleared the budget committees in both the Assembly and Senate and should come up for floor votes later this week. It should be signed by the governor sometime next week.