Newsom rolls back California drought restrictions after remarkably wet winter
LA TimesA Rancho Cucamonga housing tract was among those where outdoor watering was restricted to one day a week during last year’s drought. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced that he will roll back some of the state’s most severe drought restrictions and dramatically increase water supplies for agencies serving 27 million people. “We’re modifying it as opposed to eliminating it because first, there are portions of the state that continue to experience acute water shortages,” said California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. The provisions reflect that “we continue to have a groundwater drought, a groundwater deficit,” said Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. Water managers said they are working to boost the state’s ability to capture and store water and to modernize infrastructure under the governor’s Strategy for a Hotter, Drier California, unveiled last August.