DARRYL J. PAUL, San Clemente
This should not be news to anyone in Southern California, but it seems that the urgency of the situation has not really been acknowledged and certainly is not being adequately addressed. Our legislators at the state and federal levels must take action now.
Here are a few ideas that I can chip in: Undertake cloud seeding efforts. Large residential users whose water usage borders on the obscene should be forced to drastically cut such excessive use under threat of substantial monetary and criminal penalties.
All water districts in the state should define their largest commercial and industrial water users, each of whom should be contacted to discuss meaningful conservation measures with follow-up. Substantial monetary and criminal penalties should attach to those whose conservation measures fail to produce the intended reductions.
Restaurants, bars, eateries, and the like should be precluded from serving water to diners unless requested. And golf courses using potable water for irrigation should be throttled back substantially, and their water bills should have a large surcharge added to serve as further incentive to stop wasting water on gigantic properties, the use of which is restricted to a select few.
I’m sure that there are better ideas out there, but the important thing is that action must be taken right now.
