California is in its fourth year of a record-breaking drought that is wreaking havoc on California residents and impacting the rest of the country. With no end in sight, in January Governor Brown declared a State of Emergency and imposed strict water conservation measures on residents, businesses, municipalities and farms, with a mandate to cities and towns to reduce their water usage by 25 percent.

While farmers are by far the largest consumers of water, residents, businesses and municipalities also are learning to embrace water-saving techniques. Residents and businesses were slow to respond to state appeals for voluntary water conservation during the first three years of the drought. They have been much quicker to respond to the recent imposition of $500/day excess water usage fines.

In the face of these challenges, California municipalities are embarking on a course that will take advantage of new technologies to keep water flowing, and institutional investors will