A statement released from the office Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster this morning announced that Foster is lobbying the Governor and State Legislature to create a solution to California’s water shortage that continues to dwindle and threatens to cause mandatory rationing in southern California. The Long Beach Water Department has been praised up and down the state for its conservation efforts and community outreach – that have led to record-breaking low uses within the city – but other California cities have frankly been slow to learn from their techniques. The Mayor called on state officials to enact a water reform package that includes at least a 20% conservation requirement.

“Conservation is the most cost-effective water solution that can produce significant short-term results,” Foster says in the statement. “The state of California’s water supply is critical, and now is the time for decisive action.”

In June, we published this article about the route that water travels from the Colorado River to homes and businesses in Long Beach – as well as the myriad challenges and difficulties now facing the state water supply thanks to drought and increasing populations. Much of southern California’s water supply also comes from northern California, which does not produce full water capacity due largely to environmental protections of endangered species of fish and other animals that could be harmed.

Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Randy Gordon also issued a statement this morning, siding with Mayor Foster.

“California’s water system was built for a population of 18 million. It is now strained to the breaking point and needs to be upgraded for a population of more than 36 million that is expected to reach 50 million. The ecological considerations also are straining the system and are being co-equally considered in legislation passed in September,” Gordon says in the statement.

“The need to complete this task is crucial – and lawmakers must reach consensus on funding a historic compromise.”

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Disclosure: The Long Beach Water Department is an advertiser of the staging-live.lbpost.com

Disclosure: staging-live.lbpost.com co-founder Shaun Lumachi is a government affairs advisor to the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.