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$XTRM TEMECULA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / April 10, 2015 / Extreme Biodiesel Inc. (XTRM) announced that California Governor Jerry Brown recently imposed mandatory water restrictions for the first time on residents, businesses and farms, ordering cities and towns in California to reduce usage by 25%.
"We're in a new era," Brown stated. "The idea of your nice little green grass getting lots of water every day, that's going to be a thing of the past."
The 25% cut in usage amounts to roughly 1.5 million acre-feet of water over the next nine months, state officials said.
"This historic drought demands unprecedented action," Brown said, standing on a patch of dry, brown grass in the Sierra Nevada mountains that is typically blanketed by up to 5 feet of snow.
The reduction in water use does not apply to the agriculture industry, except for the requirement that it report more information on its groundwater use. The exclusion prompted some criticism, as agriculture uses about 80% of California's developed water supply.
The action comes as the Sierra Nevada snowpack, which Californians rely on heavily during the summer for their water needs, is at record lows.
Joeseph Spadafore, President of Extreme Biodiesel stated, "Extreme has been preparing for the drought for sometime now. XTRM has been on a waiting list for a well for several months and restrictions to drilling stalled the Company's development of its Hemp to Biodiesel project, but we have just turned a corner. The Drilling Company "Daugherty Pump and Drilling" has recently been able to pull the required permit to start the well and we anticipate being able to ramp up construction efforts on our land project very soon. Because of our early efforts to seek a well, the Company feels it should not be affected by the restrictions recently imposed by Gov. Brown."
Brown's executive order will:
- Impose significant cuts in water use on campuses, golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscapes.
- Replace 50 million square feet of lawns throughout the state with "drought-tolerant landscaping."
- Create a temporary, statewide consumer rebate program to replace old appliances with water efficient models.
- Prohibit new homes and developments from irrigating with potable water unless water-efficient drip irrigation systems are used.
- Ban watering of ornamental grass on public street medians.
- Require agricultural water users to report more water use information to state regulators, increasing the state's ability to enforce against illegal diversions and waste.
"It's a different world," Brown said, "We have to act differently."
An estimated 11 trillion gallons are needed to recover based on NASA satellite data analysis of how much water the state's reserves lack.
The entire state of California faces at least a moderate drought, and more than half of the state faces the worst category of dryness, called an exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
California isn't the only state feeling the pain. As of late September, 30% of the Lower 48 states faced at least a moderate drought, particularly in the Southwest states neighboring California and in Texas, the Drought Monitor says.
But none of those states is facing the extremes of California, where the drought has been a slowly building natural disaster since 2012.