How Californians are fighting the drought

As the drought drags on, California residents are making some major changes to their lifestyles and lawns to save water. 

Fifty to seventy percent of home water use in California goes to landscaping and keeping lawns lush and green. As the drought worsens, people are making individual sacrifices to conserve water. Simple changes like turning off the sprinkler can reduce water usage by almost a third.

The state of California has stepped in to incentivize water conservation on a larger scale by establishing conservation pricing that charges customers more when they use too much water, and offering $2 to $4 for every square foot of grass residents replace with drought-friendly California landscaping. 

Animated campaigns, like the video above produced for the City of Los Angeles featuring a cartoon water droplet, are also a creative part of the push to save water. 

The Pulse spoke with Molly Peterson, the environment correspondent at Southern California Public Radio, about how life has changed under the emergency regulations to help conserve water.