Drop That Hose! It’s Drought Time

Last year, California was spared severe drought by the “March Miracle” of heavy late-winter rain and snowfall. Time is running out for miracles in 1990, however. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California said the region could not hope for a normal water year even with a deluge of biblical proportions.

The situation has become so serious that Metropolitan General Manager Carl Boronkay has urged the water wholesaler’s 27 member agencies to adopt mandatory conservation measures for the first time since the drought of 1976-77. This is rather unusual action for MWD, which has no authority to impose its will on members--that include the city of Los Angeles plus Orange and San Diego counties--and usually avoids trying to tell them what to do. But while Metropolitan cannot force members to act, Boronkay noted that MWD can make it more difficult or expensive for uncooperative agencies to buy water.

If anyone needed a signal that it’s time to get serious about the drought in Southern California, MWD’s alarm should provide the necessary prodding. When Santa Barbara residents cannot even water their lawns, it is shameful for Angelenos to be hosing off sidewalks and using unlimited amounts of water to wash autos. Appeals of the past two years for voluntary conservation simply have not worked. People have shrugged off the repeated warnings of impending water shortages. Politicians have avoided the distasteful task of imposing inconvenience on their constituents.

The drought can no longer be ignored. Southern California must put the squeeze on the spigot now.