The Southern California’s water agency, Metropolitan Water District yesterday advised the residents to make efforts and reduce the water consumption by 10% to 20% to protect the state’s reserves. The agency’s appeal came two days after California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued the statewide drought proclamation.

The vice chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Water District, which is the water distributor for more than 18 million people from Ventura County to the Mexican border, Anthony Fellow said, “The people who live in California’s regions threatened by drought have no room for water waste”

According to the MWD General Manager, Jeff Kightlinger, there is a dire need of implementing the statewide water supply alert. The alert will force citizens to save water through conservation laws, which are already in the books. The cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach are already enforcing such laws, but other cities need to follow the example and update their ordinances.

Water restrictions were already imposed in many state districts, and a U.S. court ruled that the state should pump less water from its San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, the state's fresh-water hub.

Announcing the statewide drought on Wednesday, Governor Schwarzenegger also mentioned the fact that the past three months were the driest ever in California’s recorded history. The Governor directed the state Department of Water Resources to make the water transfers more quickly to the areas which need it the most and also ordered agencies to help farmers suffering losses from the drought. The Governor warned that the situation could worsen in 2009 if another dry winter follows.