Southern California drought emergency declared

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The giant Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has declared a regional drought emergency due to record dry conditions. Directors made the declaration Tuesday in a resolution that calls for increased conservation. Metropolitan serves as a wholesaler to 26 local water agencies that supply a region with 19 million people. Board Chairwoman Gloria D. Gray says Southern California on average gets about one-third of its water from Northern California via the State Water Project and next year it will be lucky to get a small fraction of that. Metropolitan is trying to preserve State Water Project supplies by instead delivering Colorado River water to as much of the region as possible.