Gov. Brown announces mandatory water use cuts on April 1, 2015. (Photo: State of California)

The reporter sought commentary about the new policy from Doug Parker, director of the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources' California Institute for Water Resources.

"What this announcement does really is communicate to the people how serious this is," Parker said. "We'll see more tiered pricing, more restrictions on landscaping. We need to deal with the simple uncertainty of how long the drought will last."

The story said water use reduction will  involve:

• irrigation cuts on golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscaped spaces
• replacement of 50 million square feet of lawn with drought-tolerant landscaping
• a rebate program to encourage the purchase of water-saving appliances
• requiring new homes to use drip irrigation

"In past droughts, it was fairly easy to greatly reduce water usage because per capita it was fairly high," Parker says. "The problem this time around is many Californians are already conserving water. So we'll need to ratchet things up."

Della Cava filed a separate story for USA Today on the agricultural implications of Gov. Brown's announcement, which said the farming sector is unlikely to feel the pinch of new water restrictions.

"Water allocations to farmers have already been set for the year, so these new measures won't really impact them," Parker explained. "But the new rules will require increased reporting on water diversions and water use."

Parker told the reporter that medium and large agriculture water districts -- those between 10,000 and 25,000 acres, and those over 25,000 acres -- will need to begin submitting not only detailed water management plans but also include contingencies for future droughts. Requiring such reporting should make it easier for state officials to find those who are diverting water illegally, such as the marijuana growers in the northern part of the state.