Newsom Expands Drought Emergency Statewide

On Tuesday, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation adding jurisdictions to the drought state of emergency and requiring local water suppliers to implement water shortage contingency plans. The Governor’s proclamation adds eight counties not previously included in drought state of emergency issued earlier this summer: Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, and Ventura.

With the addition of these counties, the Governor’s proclamation covers the entire state of California and provides state government agencies additional flexibilities to ban wasteful water practices and take other conservation actions. Recall, Governor Newsom also issued an executive order in July calling on all California residents to voluntarily reduce water use by 15 percent compared to 2020.

Additional information on the Governor’s drought-related action is available here.