Judge Calls For Reduced Water Pumping In California

"Water rationing. Idled farmland. Hundreds of millions of dollars in economic losses. Dry times lie ahead for a state struggling to serve up more water from a tapped-out ecosystem."

"A judge's order last Friday is expected to require state and federal agencies to pump one-third less water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta."

"The estuary provides water to 23 million Californians and about 5 million acres of farmland."

"Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, said California has long relied too heavily on the Delta as a water supply even as danger signs mounted. A longtime Delta advocate, he said the solution involves prioritizing how we use water and adopting aggressive conservation measures."

"'The day of reckoning has arrived,' Miller said. 'Now we have an opportunity to work within the environmental realities of the Delta and see if we can work out how we can operate this system and protect it at the same time.'"