Not all of California is exploiting cheap water. Some of us (the ones who live in cities) are paying a high price for it and using it sparingly. City water us

Not all of California is exploiting cheap water. Some of us (the ones who live in cities) are paying a high price for it and using it sparingly. City water use is less than 20% of the total California water use. The almond crop alone uses more water than all the city residents in the state. It's hard to make a blanket statement about how much California farmers pay for water since it varies a lot. Some pay literally nothing, due to antiquated water rights laws. Others pay per acre-foot, but usually less than a tenth of what city residents pay. Still others can't get water at any price, because giving water at artificially cheap prices to the first two groups has left nothing to spare. And most agricultural water supplies aren't metered or monitored except at the very roughest level. However, due to widespread public ignorance and the agricultural lobby, the conversation about growing rice in the middle of a desert (by flooding the fields) will never be had. Instead we get bans on restaurants serving people glasses of water unless they request it, and similar stupidity.