California Gov. Jerry Brown defends agriculture's water use during drought

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) is standing behind his plan to reduce water use primarily in urban spots as opposed to agricultural areas.

Brown announced mandatory drought restrictions last week, and wants towns and cities to cut their water use by at least 25 percent. Although the biggest water user in the state is agriculture, Brown is targeting parks, lawns, and golf courses. "Farmworkers who are at [the] very low end of the economic scale here are out of work," he said on Sunday's This Week. "There are people in agriculture areas that are really suffering."

Brown argues that restricting water use on farms would negatively impact the state, saying, "If you don't want to produce any food and import it from some other place, of course you could do that." He does plan to look at water rights that permit some farms to purchase water at a lower cost than others. "Some people have a right to more water than others," he said. "That's historic. That's built into the legal framework of California. If things continue at this level, that's probably going to be examined, but as it is, we do live with a somewhat archaic water law situation."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up