California imposes emergency water cuts

LOS ANGELES: California's state water board has approved a drastic conservation plan to cut urban water usage by 25%, local media reported late Tuesday.
"We're in a massive drought unlike anything we've experienced," said chairwoman Felicia Marcus, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Board members unanimously supported the cuts, which Governor Jerry Brown mandated by executive order on April 1.
The board was responsible for designing and approving the reduction plan.
More than 400 state water suppliers will be forced under the plan to cut their water use by between 8 and 36%, the report said.
California is in the fourth year of drought, with reservoirs depleted and mountain snowpack, which supplies the region's streams and rivers through dry summers, at its lowest-ever level. – dpa