California’s water regulators are weighing plans to limit individual daily water consumption to just 42 gallons per day by the end of the decade, with proposed rules that suppliers and agencies around the state are warning will hike people’s water bills with little benefit.

The state water board’s proposed rules map out its planned enforcement of a 2022 law ordering urban water suppliers to cut indoor allowances from 55 gallons to 47 gallons per day in 2025 and 42 gallons by 2031. Californians’ average daily consumption of 51 gallons is already much lower than the U.S. average of 80 to 100 gallons per person per day, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

[California does have water issues, but it’s going to be very difficult to sell this to an electorate that’s already starting to leave the state. People who have means to leave the Rationing State will do so, which may make things a little easier for those who remain, but then again, this isn’t the only example of top-down life management in California. — Ed]