PLATFORM : Growth Moratorium Solves Nothing

While five years of drought has left the state panting for water, the flood - gates have not closed on the number of people migrating to California. So many, in fact, that Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan Jr. recently said that the state needs to limit its growth. CHRISTINE REED, former director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development and now executive director of the Building Industry Assn. of Orange County, commented on Lujan’s statement:

Most of California’s population is due to an increase in the number of babies being born here, not from people moving to the state. A moratorium on growth would make it difficult to accommodate natural population increases and lead to major problems for all Californians.

Droughts should come as no surprise. California can be better prepared for future droughts by finishing the State Water Project and building needed reservoirs to capture rain water.

Stopping home construction would be a drop in the bucket. Agricultural uses drink up about 85% of our water. Since most domestic use goes to landscaping, the building industry is adopting new irrigation technologies, using reclaimed water and other methods.

An outright moratorium on growth would solve nothing. The best way to overcome a drought is for the state to get moving on needed water facilities, and for every resident to make water conservation a way of life.