California Dry

“’We have been rationing severely. No plants get watered. That’s over. Turned off the toilet. I haven’t washed my hair for two weeks,’ said Willits resident Andrea Onstad, who was washing her car Monday afternoon. A few blocks down at Gribaldo’s diner on the city’s Main Street, customers sat at tables with no water glasses. A sign on the wall warned of the drought emergency — water was only available upon request. Things are so scarce that the sheriff’s office is on alert for water bandits.”
 — No, this isn’t another story about subpar travel accommodations for sportswriters in Sochi. This is Willits, California, in the far northwestern corner of the state, where there is so little water that the plot of Chinatown is *this close* to coming true (again, I guess). Note: “water bandits” are not to be confused with banded water snakes, hamburglars, or water opossums.

Photo by Robert Couse-Baker, via Flickr