Hello fellow Kommiefornian! First let me say that there are two sides to every story. [quote]We just got a letter in the mail saying how/when we should use the water that my family pays for and I'm pretty sure most small communities like the one I live in are going to get the same treatment. I don't need the government telling me how to use something I need to survive.[/quote] [url=http://media.nbcbayarea.com/images/654*368/drought_california_map.jpg]In case you didn't notice, we are in a drought.[/url] That letter is [b]asking[/b] you to cut back so that we don't have to require everyone cut back 20% water usage. And while you need water to live, there are surely plenty of ways you can cut back your monthly water usage [b]without having to stop drinking water and risk death by dehydration like you are implying.[/b] Not to mention that some cities and counties are extremely hard pressed to find ways to actually supply water to their citizens. Most likely, you're not one of them though. But on the rare chance that you are and/or have cut your water usage to the bare bone, then I give you a pardon on this issue. [quote]The people and farmers could get more water if he didn't care more about the Delta Smelt, an endangered fish. The fish is also costing people jobs just to protect the damn thing.[/quote] Yeah, let SoCal rob the Bay Area of they water they need so farmers can grow trees in the desert. Hyperbole aside, it's not that Brown cares more about the fish than the people. Brown is balancing which people need help more since he can't help both at the same time, and arguably the ones here in the Bay Area are in greater number and need help more. Turn on the pumps full bore and you risk destroying the ecosystem of the Delta, and the economies depending on it, just to save some farmers who are growing trees in a desert. It's picking the lesser of two evils and letting the farms go to fallow in SoCal is the lesser of two evils.