Schwarzenegger declares statewide drought in California

By Don Thompson
ASSOCIATED PRESS

10:44 a.m. June 4, 2008

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proclaiming a statewide drought after two years of below-average rainfall, low snowmelt runoff and the largest court-ordered restrictions on water transfers in state history.


Associated Press
After declaring that California is in a drought, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs an executive order directing the Department of Water Resources to help speed water transfers to areas with the worst shortages, during a news conference at the Capitol in Sacramento Wednesday.
His office said he would issue an executive order Wednesday directing the state's response to unusually dry conditions that are damaging crops, harming water quality and causing extreme fire danger across California. Many communities already are requiring water conservation or rationing to deal with the shortfall.

Schwarzenegger's statewide drought declaration is the first since 1991, when Gov. Pete Wilson acted in the fifth year of a drought that lasted into 1992.

The executive order directs the state Department of Water Resources to speed water transfers to areas with the worst shortages. It also tells state officials to help local water districts with conservation efforts and directs agencies to help farmers suffering losses from the drought.

In addition, the governor is naming two “water czars,â€