50% of Los Angeles' water usage goes to landscaping. Just imagine how much water could be saved if the landscape looked like Las Vegas or Phoenix.
Another thing: Drive through the central valley and you'll see miles and miles of orchards. We're going to have to eventually eliminate stuff like growing almond tree orchards if we want to be serious about water usage.
Banning fracking will also help. 70 million gallons of water were used for fracking in the state last year. Brown's reasoning is that the gas will have to be imported from out of state via fossil fuel intensive methods if we didn't drill for it here, but the bottom line is we might have to do that if water is such a scarcity.
It can be done. But even California is too resistant to huge and rapid lifestyle changes like that. We'll see.
Currently, Los Angeles is offering incentives for homeowners to change grass-covered lawns to more desert-friendly landscaping. That said, there's only so much can be done targeting residential buildings. The vast majority of water use in California is used by agricultural interests, and they're really the ones who will bear the brunt of the squeeze.
Too many farms, not enough water for them.
