California Governor Brown tells critics of water project: 'Shut up'

[WorldNews]

By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown on Wednesday delivered a spirited defense of his controversial proposals to shore up California's water system, which is straining under years of drought and population growth. Brown's impassioned argument in favor of mandatory conservation, desalination and water recycling plants, and a massive project to funnel water from the Sacramento River came a day after regulators imposed steep cutbacks in water use as part of the state's first-ever mandatory conservation plan. "I have to deal with these problems I've been given," Brown told a meeting of the Association of California Water Agencies. I wish we didn't have any problems." California is entering the fourth year of a devastating drought that has killed 12.5 million trees, caused farmers to fallow a half-million acres of land and left mountains bereft of snow that melts to replenish streams and reservoirs.

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