Zürcher Nachrichten - Unprecedented water curbs kick in for drought-hit Los Angeles

EUR -
AED 4.05586
AFN 78.957999
ALL 100.898311
AMD 432.103575
ANG 1.976787
AOA 1011.467257
ARS 1186.363518
AUD 1.745311
AWG 1.9876
AZN 1.87643
BAM 1.954087
BBD 2.229261
BDT 134.152351
BGN 1.953772
BHD 0.416176
BIF 3231.505662
BMD 1.104222
BND 1.475286
BOB 7.629483
BRL 6.218939
BSD 1.104092
BTN 94.249929
BWP 15.279831
BYN 3.613147
BYR 21642.751059
BZD 2.217774
CAD 1.554408
CDF 3172.42966
CHF 0.948974
CLF 0.027324
CLP 1048.524856
CNY 8.040448
CNH 8.038129
COP 4593.508279
CRC 556.291423
CUC 1.104222
CUP 29.261883
CVE 112.685325
CZK 25.073542
DJF 196.242018
DKK 7.461626
DOP 69.679844
DZD 146.67643
EGP 55.864685
ERN 16.56333
ETB 143.214489
FJD 2.556163
FKP 0.851043
GBP 0.843768
GEL 3.036243
GGP 0.851043
GHS 17.114226
GIP 0.851043
GMD 79.700647
GNF 9552.382551
GTQ 8.501761
GYD 231.665029
HKD 8.588794
HNL 28.265775
HRK 7.532116
HTG 143.529041
HUF 406.090928
IDR 18458.911507
ILS 4.079763
IMP 0.851043
INR 94.359084
IQD 1444.115785
IRR 46487.940849
ISK 146.205374
JEP 0.851043
JMD 172.048419
JOD 0.782868
JPY 161.544354
KES 142.703072
KGS 95.724625
KHR 4416.637221
KMF 499.828456
KPW 993.859466
KRW 1614.714394
KWD 0.340458
KYD 0.918256
KZT 555.254064
LAK 23926.815484
LBP 98898.408728
LKR 325.208576
LRD 220.835956
LSL 20.718348
LTL 3.260481
LVL 0.667933
LYD 5.333615
MAD 10.588417
MDL 19.734571
MGA 5093.722724
MKD 62.808495
MMK 2318.263231
MNT 3857.553481
MOP 8.851802
MRU 43.954051
MUR 50.532927
MVR 17.051344
MWK 1914.764226
MXN 22.015209
MYR 4.917931
MZN 70.547731
NAD 20.718348
NGN 1695.145855
NIO 40.631533
NOK 11.410279
NPR 151.045304
NZD 1.908306
OMR 0.425097
PAB 1.104222
PEN 4.057104
PGK 4.511816
PHP 63.03804
PKR 309.312831
PLN 4.235968
PYG 8802.577006
QAR 4.018956
RON 5.057577
RSD 119.055982
RUB 93.022442
RWF 1568.577853
SAR 4.141096
SBD 9.385397
SCR 15.971898
SDG 662.498791
SEK 10.816804
SGD 1.481886
SHP 0.867745
SLE 25.120995
SLL 23154.984273
SOS 629.958048
SRD 40.437351
STD 22855.165835
SVC 9.662235
SYP 14357.86896
SZL 20.718348
THB 37.663888
TJS 12.043366
TMT 3.862166
TND 3.415945
TOP 2.659637
TRY 41.973454
TTD 7.466717
TWD 36.575064
TZS 2922.401324
UAH 45.631623
UGX 4025.831038
USD 1.104222
UYU 46.647638
UZS 14290.01376
VES 77.083414
VND 28344.064062
VUV 136.448042
WST 3.128076
XAF 666.437941
XAG 0.034564
XAU 0.000355
XCD 2.989452
XDR 0.831364
XOF 666.437941
XPF 119.331742
YER 271.534362
ZAR 20.709672
ZMK 9939.317211
ZMW 30.955568
ZWL 355.559031
  • RBGPF

    -0.2800

    67.72

    -0.41%

  • JRI

    -0.2200

    12.82

    -1.72%

  • BCC

    -7.4400

    94.63

    -7.86%

  • SCS

    -0.7200

    10.74

    -6.7%

  • CMSC

    -0.2400

    22.26

    -1.08%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    9.8

    +0.2%

  • NGG

    3.6100

    69.39

    +5.2%

  • GSK

    1.3700

    39.01

    +3.51%

  • BTI

    1.6700

    41.92

    +3.98%

  • RELX

    0.4600

    51.44

    +0.89%

  • RIO

    -1.4700

    58.43

    -2.52%

  • VOD

    0.2500

    9.37

    +2.67%

  • AZN

    1.7000

    73.92

    +2.3%

  • BCE

    0.8400

    22.66

    +3.71%

  • CMSD

    -0.1600

    22.67

    -0.71%

  • BP

    -2.4700

    31.34

    -7.88%

Unprecedented water curbs kick in for drought-hit Los Angeles
Unprecedented water curbs kick in for drought-hit Los Angeles / Photo: JUSTIN SULLIVAN - GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Unprecedented water curbs kick in for drought-hit Los Angeles

Unprecedented restrictions on water usage went into effect Wednesday in the Los Angeles area, which like most of California is in the grip of severe drought for the third consecutive year.

Text size:

More than six million customers are affected by the new measures, which limit watering gardens to one day a week and only during the coolest hours, under penalty of a fine and reduced water flow.

The goal is to reduce consumption by 35 percent in the area served by the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of southern California, which encompasses 19 million residents, or nearly half of the US state's population.

"We have not had the supply to meet the normal demand that we have, and now we need to prioritize between watering our lawns and having water for our children and our grandchildren and livelihood and health," the MWD said in an April statement announcing the restrictions.

The district, which acts on behalf of 26 local agencies, depends for its water supply on resources located hundreds of miles away.

Nearly a third comes from northern California via the State Water Project, a colossal network of 21 dams and more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) of canals and pipes that carry water south from the mountains of the Sierra Nevada.

Due to chronic drought exacerbated by climate change, the State Water Project announced it could meet only five percent of its usual deliveries this year to MWD, which had no choice but to take the drastic new measures.

- Climate change and the 'American cliche' -

Rather than limiting watering to once per week, district agencies also have the option of reducing water consumption to about 80 gallons (300 liters) per day per person.

That was the option chosen by the city of Los Angeles, where watering is now restricted to two days per week.

According to experts, water used for irrigation accounts for 70-80 percent of urban consumption in southern California.

"If we shift toward plants and landscapes that are more appropriate toward California climate, we could dramatically reduce our water use," said Heather Cooley, director of research at the Pacific Institute, a think tank on water issues.

Many homeowners had already made this choice during a 2012-2016 drought, when the governor of California imposed a 25 percent reduction in urban water consumption.

With climate change, "the American cliche of the green lawn with a white fence should not exist in California anymore," said Javier, a gardener AFP met on an LA street unloading succulents in front of a client's house.

"Now it needs to be succulent plants and heat resistant vegetation," he said.

"More and more people are asking for that. They prefer to have a nice front lawn with healthy low water plants and native plants, like succulents and cacti, rather than dirty brown grass," he added.

According to the US Drought Observatory's weekly bulletin, more than 97 percent of California was in "severe, extreme or exceptional" drought conditions on Wednesday.

And many dams and water reservoirs are at levels well below normal, even before the start of summer.

The Colorado River, another major water source for southern California and used by tens of millions of people in the American West, is also badly affected.

According to a 2020 study published by the US Geological Survey, the flow of the Colorado has dropped by an average of 20 percent over the past century, and at least half of that decline can be attributed to rising temperatures.

In California, average summer temperatures are 1.6 degrees Celsius above their level at the end of the 19th century.

O.Krasniqi--NZN