Steve Shadley, Capital Public Radio
The State Department of Water Resources is launching a statewide media blitz to keep the public focused on the drought this summer.
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Temperatures are warming up and that’s prompting state officials to launch another media campaign urging Californians to conserve water during the severe drought.
The State Department of Water Resources says it plans to spend two-million dollars on billboards, radio-TV and newspaper announcements this summer. They’ll encourage everyone to take shorter showers, flush toilets less often and replace lawns with drought resistant landscaping.
Tim Quinn is Executive Director of the Association of California Water Agencies. He says the state’s water challenges aren’t going away anytime soon…
“We’re operating a system suffering from drought. We’re suffering from systems that are overly regulated we don’t have the right infrastructure. In the meantime we have to come up with a survival strategy. The biggest tool we have in the toolbox right now is conservation…”
Quinn says his association is also trying to raise another two-million dollars for the campaign. Earlier this spring, Governor Schwarzenegger urged people to cut their water use by 20-percent. But, the state hasn’t called for mandatory water rationing yet. A spokesman with the governor’s office says Schwarzenegger would rather work with state lawmakers to approve a long-term water bond program to make California’s water system more efficient.