Americas

Home page

Americas

Emergency state proclaimed in California

28 February 2009 09:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev â€“APA. Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a state of emergency and ordered all government agencies to implement the state’s emergency plan and provide help for people, communities and businesses impacted by the third consecutive year of drought, APA reports quoting Reuters.
"This drought is having a devastating impact on our people, our communities, our economy and our environment - making today’s action absolutely necessary," Governor Schwarzenegger said. "This is a crisis, just as severe as an earthquake or raging wildfire, and we must treat it with the same urgency by upgrading California’s water infrastructure to ensure a clean and reliable water supply for our growing state."
The governor called for a statewide water conservation campaign and asked all urban water users to immediately reduce their individual water use by 20 percent. He asked all Californians to reduce their water use as much as possible.
The governor’s order directs that by March 30, the Department of Water Resources will provide an updated report on the state’s drought conditions and water availability.
If the emergency conditions have not eased, the governor said he could start mandatory water rationing and mandatory reductions in water use.
Experts said California suffered from drought for many times, but this year it faced with most disastrous situation. The stateâ€™s budget lost nearly $3 billion resources because of drought.