Click the link to read the article on the Deseret News website (Amy Joi O’Donoghue). Here’s an excerpt:
This is how bad it is getting: The Metropolitan Water District in California is a wholesale supplier of water with 26 member agencies representing 80 cities and communities. CBS News reported that the district’s water delivery network supplied just 5% of the water local areas had requested. It is also prepared to levy a fine of $2,000 per acre-foot of water to those areas that fail to meet the state’s water savings goal. An acre-foot is enough water to cover a piece of land roughly the size of a football field water one foot deep.
In May, the city of Mesa, Arizona, declared a water shortage, and officials there are instituting severe water restrictions at their own facilities. Salt Lake County is in a similar mode, shooting for water savings by asking parks and recreation leaders to cut back on water use as much as possible while still keeping ballfields and golf courses functional.