Daylight Savings Time ends this week. We roll back the clocks Sunday morning, November 1, 2009. My old computer asked me over a week ago about the time change, but the date was altered between the time of my initial purchase and this week's new date.

I only bring this up because in Sacramento City this means new  watering rules for residential and commercial properties go into effect for the next six months on the day of the time change. In Sacramento this summer landscape irrigation watering (lawn sprinklers, driveway car wash days and other home outdoor water uses) was restricted to  every other day water use. In the winter and early spring months watering is down to one weekend day per week. Link to story.

That is right. In Sacramento you only get to water at any business or residential location one day a week for the next six months. All this to conserve water in an area that gets on average 20 inches of rain per year.

Now down here in where-does-the-water-come-from-land we have no restrictions on water usage summer or winter. We do hear complaints all the time about the feds crimping all those big agribusinesses water allotments and hurting farmers in parts of the state that were never made for agricultural use. We hear about all that government regulation of  waterways hurting the small farmer, but really what hurts the small farmer is his inability to garner the largest amount of federal aid when he grows crops that have not made the government commodity list of taxpayer hand outs.

Shucks, we here about running the Kern River through Bakersfield year around more frequently than we hear about any water conservation for this town. We hear about water rights litigation between water districts and townships, but save water?

We have averaged about three inches of rain per year for the past three years here in Bakersfield. Remember that huge storm that blew through the Bay Area and Sacramento all the way down to Fresno with over nine inches of rain getting reported in Santa Cruz? Hey, City Council and Bored of Supervising People, Bakersfield rainfall totals did not get beyond the trace level. We did get dried feces from all those mega dairies you all approved of earlier this decade swirling through the streets and alleys for two days. Thanks a bunch for that.