Although letting your lawn go brown is encouraged, trees can quickly become stressed or die when irrigation is
reduced or stopped altogether.

Warning that the water supply will shrink by 10% due to climate change, Newsom set targets for recycled water and increased storage. But deadlines are distant, details are scant and there is no conservation.

The State Water Resources Control Board and the Santa Clara Valley Water District adopted tough restrictions on water use, as California grapples with a new normal climate that’s drier and hotter.

The U.S. Drought Monitor report from May 3 shows 92% of California in a severe drought and about 40% of the state experiencing extreme drought conditions. 

The April snowpack, key to how much water flows into reservoirs, is 38% of average statewide, proving that drought hasn’t relaxed its grip on California.

New data from urban areas suggests that people are ignoring the governor’s pleas for voluntary conservation during the drought.

After record-breaking snowfall in December, January and February were likely the driest on record, prolonging California’s drought. In Silicon Valley, the conditions could mean tightening restrictions and increasing rebates to reduce water use.

The statewide mandate includes prohibitions over watering yards, washing cars without a shutoff nozzle, hosing down sidewalks or watering grass within 48 hours after rainfall. 

Worsening droughts, competition for scarce supplies, sea level rise, groundwater contamination, earthquakes, wildfires and extreme weather all contribute to California water woes.

Dry lightning, wildfires and drought are bursting the weird meteorological bubble that’s insulated Silicon Valley.

Growers’ groups voiced strong opposition, questioning the state water board’s power to stop senior rights holders from pumping the water.

San Jose's city water company encourages all customers to conserve water because of “extreme drought.”

Updated in December 2020, the City of San José now has some of the steepest fines for illegal fireworks use: $1,000 for the first violation, $2,000 for a second violation within 18 months, and $3,000 for a third violation.

The water shortage emergency hopes to reduce water use countywide by 15% of 2019 levels.

Drought conditions in California remain at record highs, with most of the state now classified in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought, and much of the Bay Area north of San Jose last week was included in the most severe “exceptional drought” zone.

For those living on hillsides with low grasslands, the fire risks are not as serious as for those living in densely populated communities near forests, or hillsides of brush and timber.