California moves to kill the lawn, save the water

A home with a swimming pool sits near hillside, Thursday April 2, 2015, in Altadena, Calif. California Gov Jerry Brown on Wednesday, April 1, ordered a mandatory 25 percent overall cutback in water use by cities and towns, but not farms, in the most sweeping drought measure in history by the United States’ largest state economy. The water crackdown comes as California moves toward its fourth summer of drought after record low winter snowfall, leaving the state with a year’s worth of water stored in its reservoirs, and dwindling groundwater for wells. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) A home with a swimming pool sits near hillside, Thursday April 2, 2015, in Altadena, Calif. California Gov Jerry Brown on Wednesday, April 1, ordered a mandatory 25 percent overall cutback in water use by cities and towns, but not farms, in the most sweeping drought measure in history by the United States’ largest state economy. The water crackdown comes as California moves toward its fourth summer of drought after record low winter snowfall, leaving the state with a year’s worth of water stored in its reservoirs, and dwindling groundwater for wells. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

By Associated Press April 2, 2015 5 min read

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) – What’s it going to take to get people to use a lot less water in drought-stricken California, the Technicolor landscape of lush yards, emerald golf courses and aquamarine swimming pools?

The state may be about to find out as it imposes the first mandatory water-use restrictions in California history later this year.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday ordered a 25 percent overall cutback in water use by cities and towns, but not farms, in the most sweeping drought measures ever undertaken by the nation’s most populous state.

The crackdown comes as California moves toward its fourth summer of drought with no relief in sight. Record low snowfall over the winter has left the state of nearly 40 million people with a year’s worth of water in its reservoirs, and dwindling groundwater for wells.

On Thursday, retired secretary Brenda Johnson stood in the doorway of her Sacramento home contemplating her lovingly tended lawn and azalea bushes. Johnson did not love the idea of brown as the new green.