- This January, after the driest calendar year in California history, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency. He called on residents to reduce their water intake by 20 percent.
But downtown Los Angeles doesn't look like a city devastated by the state's worst drought in decades. The city is green with landscaping, and fountains are running. People still water their lawns, wash their cars and fill their pools.
I wonder, californian's of Hubski: insomniasexx, kleinbl00, Saydrah and others, has this drought effected you? Have you changed your behaviors as a result of it?
I came to Los Angeles in 2007 and it was the worst drought on record. In 2008 we had 10 inches of rain in the first 3 weeks of the year and then never again. In 2009 it was the worst drought on record. In 2010 it was the worst drought on record. In 2011 it was the worst drought on record. In 2012 it was the worst drought on record. In 2013 it was the worst drought on record. In 2014 it's the worst drought on record. Look - you drive up the grapevine and you see dead farms. A lot of them have signs saying "thanks Dianne Feinstein." You drive down the grapevine and a little north of Santa Clarita you see giant pipes carrying water uphill for Los Angeles. It's not like this is a new thing, it's not like it's suddenly a big deal. Wanna see a pic of the LA river? Right by where I work it goes from 30' wide by 3" deep in concrete to 6' wide by 3' deep in concrete: LA Hates Water. There aren't any gutters here. When it does rain, it sweeps all the shit that's been building up on the streets for eight months out into the ocean and all the birds die. It's fuckin' awesome. That's why I took this picture: This is on Ballona Creek, which still has waterbirds and stuff on it (even though it's a concrete channel, too). It's where the LA river eventually hits the ocean, which, despite LA's best intentions, is not in a concrete channel. It's a leaky fire hydrant. It's been leaking so long that it has built up a layer of vegetation about 3' thick on the concrete. Water brought algae brought dust became mud became sediment attracted moss became humus became soil and now there's growth on concrete because the LAFD doesn't check their pipes. How many years did that take? Has the drought affected me? Well, I pee in the shower now. But I grew up in the desert and lemme tell ya - LA doesn't believe it's the desert. And that's why it's going to die. Has the drought affected me? Well, we've started cementing our 2-year plan to get the fuck out of here. But that has more to do with the fact that I don't care if LA dies than the fact that there's a drought on. This place would be shit with 50" annually. 
Meh. Not really. My family redid our front yard a while ago (2006 maybe?) and got rid of the grass and did a garden with plants that are native to California / desert regions and need less water. We're only allowed to water twice a week and they come around and do ticket you if they catch you. We water from 1am-3am twice a week now and it's usually good. Sometimes we sneak another one in. We've been doing this for years though and it was weird at first but we have the routine down now. Other than that, I have yet to notice.
As I was reading your comment, my blackberry started making a strange alarming noise. That's right, I still have a blackberry because of my day job. Why they give us those still, I have no idea. Anyways, the alarm was notifying me of a flash flood in my area. Wish I could send some of this rain your way Cali as we have plenty of it here today.
I wonder how close LA is getting to a Tragedy of the Commons exponential growth of water usage, where at the zenith of a water crisis, everyone unloads their taps into storage to protect themselves.
It's pretty crazy when you see the puddles of water pooling on the sidewalk from errant sprinklers. Fountains also drive me crazy. I mean what are we doing? What's the bloody point? And all that is just a massive waste in general, let alone during a drought. It's like we know this lavish life is ending and we wanna burn through it while we can. We're monkeys.
I haven't changed my behavior much, but I never used too much water in the first place. I do try to pee outside more, though.
I know a guy with two public urination tickets in Michigan. If he get's a third, he is put on the sex offenders list. Be careful.