California ”water bank” in works amid drought

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California’s state government is forming a “water bank” to buy water for local water agencies at risk of shortages next year should a current drought persist, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Thursday.

Schwarzenegger in June declared the most populous U.S. state to officially be in drought and declared nine counties in its farm-rich Central Valley to be in a state of emergency because water supplies were so low after two years of below-average rainfall.

California’s water shortages have been compounded by a federal court order to limit pumping water from the state’s San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta to protect a species of fish.

Reuters