California may face long-term drought

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by Staff Writers
Sacramento (UPI) May 3, 2008
California officials said the state could be forced to ration water after the driest spring in at least 150 years.

Water officials told the San Francisco Chronicle the state could be on the verge of a long-term drought.

The Sierra Nevada snow pack is only 67 percent of normal and many reservoirs are at well-below-average levels.

"We're in a dry spell if not a drought," California Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman told the newspaper. "We're in the second year, and if we're looking at a third year, we're talking about a serious problem."

San Francisco and Marin County have asked residents and businesses to cut water usage by 10 percent to 20 percent and the water district serving 330,000 people in Orange County enacted water rationing last year, the Chronicle said.

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