On Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown announced there will be mandatory water cutbacks in the drought-stricken state for the first time in history.

“Today we are standing on dry grass where there should be five feet of snow,” he said in a statement. “This historic drought demands unprecedented action. Therefore, I’m issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reductions across our state. As Californians, we must pull together and save water in every way possible.”

While previous efforts at rationing water have been initiated at the city and district levels, this is the first time that rationing has been enforced statewide.

The orders come the same day Brown joined officials at a snowpack measure in the Sierra Nevada mountains that revealed levels are are at an all-time recorded low, at just 6 percent of the long-term average for this time of year. The previous low was 25 percent, set in 1977 and again in 2014. Read more

In Sweden, a clause in planning laws allows residents to build a 270 square foot building on any existing residential property — a law that’s seen some inventive new small house designs, like this concept that moves the shower outdoors.

The small structures are known as Attefall houses, after the politician who introduced the planning regulation. Although the law limits the floor plan of the house to 270 square feet — a bit smaller than a regulation basketball key — it also allows the eaves to extend out by five feet. Read more

“Water is a precondition for human existence”, says UN Deputy Secretary-General, Jan Eliasson. Water is health, water is energy, water is food, water is climate, and water is equality. This year, we celebrate the 25th Jubilee of Stockholm Water Prize. Read more

With scientific modeling foreshadowing megadroughts in the Southwest and Great Plains, it is imperative policymakers implement freshwater projects along the lower Colorado River, in particular, the Salton Sea, a 376-square-mile freshwater agricultural sump in southeastern California, and in the Colorado River Delta where the waterway ends its journey in the Baja California desert.

Following the elimination of 95 percent of California’s wetlands in the last century, the Salton Sea provides habitat for several endangered species and is a vital stopover for migrating birds along the Pacific Coast. Over 400 bird species–the largest documented number in North America–nest there. Read more

In fact, the blue regions in the image – which was taken by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter – are dark sediments that look like liquid water because of the way the image was processed, according to the agency’s website.

Water is known to exist on Mars, but the Red Planet is so cold that, with the possible exception of some transient melting, it’s all frozen solid. Read more