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California looks Down Under for help with drought

Officials hope Australia can show the way to manage scarce water resources better, despite different system there

Published Sun, Apr 12, 2015 · 09:50 PM

    San Francisco

    AUSTRALIAN farms and cities manage almost every drop of available water to make the most of supplies on the driest inhabited continent. No wonder California is looking Down Under for help with its record drought.

    Four years of historic water loss have left the most-populous US state with depleted reservoirs, fallow farmland and billions of dollars in emergency spending to keep faucets open. Unlike Australia, where water is tightly regulated and tracked by meters, usage in parts of California is unmonitored, urban supply remains cheap, and aquifers can be tapped by almost any landowner with a permit to drill a well.

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