LeakBird

(April 26, 2009, The Ventura County Star)
Thousand Oaks plans to introduce a system of tiered water rates to motivate consumers to conserve…
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies state water to area cities and communities, is requiring its customers to implement the ordinance and tiered rates to encourage users to conserve…
(Original Article Here)

(April 14, 2009, The Los Angeles Times)
It would be nice if only the overusers picked up that higher tab, but without a further, and very time-consuming, overhaul of the city’s rates, those higher prices would be borne by everyone. The council should take up that challenge too, but for now, the drought-year rates and the [...]

(March 23, 2009, The Mercury News)

Citing three dry years in a row, Silicon Valley’s biggest water supplier will vote this morning on whether to call for a 15 percent mandatory summer cutback, the first water rationing in Santa Clara County in 18 years. Yet, just over the county line, Fremont residents will face no restrictions.
On [...]

(March 21, 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle)
A statewide drought emergency has prompted San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders to propose a plan that would reduce the city’s water use by about 20 percent.
The plan announced on Friday would require residents to cut their outdoor water use by 45 percent, and their indoor water use by 5 [...]

After reading today’s article in the San Diego Tribune in which the Metropolitan Water District has its drinking straws in its final water reserves and options, I’m convinced that water rationing will not be averted in Southern California (or perhaps all of California for that matter).  In other words, we can bank on water rationing, [...]

(March 16, 2009, The San Diego Tribune)
With its vast reserves running precariously low, the Metropolitan Water District has widened its unending search for water to even more distant sources.
Since 2007, Metropolitan’s stockpiles have shrunk by nearly half, drained by a combination of drought, diversions to safeguard fish, cuts in Colorado River supplies and population growth.
As [...]

(Feb. 26, 2009, The Mercury News)

In March, after a series of cold winter storms, the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada was above normal. That seemed to be good news for California’s water supply, which relies heavily on Sierra Nevada snow.
But after a record heat wave in the early spring, it was as if the winter’s [...]

(Feb. 27, 2009, The Los Angeles Times)
With California’s budget crisis resolved for the moment, state lawmakers Thursday turned their attention to another emergency: a three-year drought that has left key reservoirs at 35% of capacity.
Legislators stepped forward with plans to ask voters to borrow as much as $15 billion for projects to expand and improve [...]

(Feb. 13, 2009, The Los Angeles Times)

On Monday, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed accelerated water restrictions for Los Angeles — and the city got about a third of an inch of rain. In the past, showers were considered bad luck for a conservation push, but these days they are a fitting backdrop. We may get a [...]

(Jan. 13, 2009, San Gabriel Tribune)
There is a 50 percent chance Southern California’s main water agency could ration water deliveries by spring, according to a report released Tuesday.
Previously, the agency said there was a 33 percent chance of rationing.
“We would basically be … capping water supplies to our local agencies,” said Bob Muir, a [...]