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03cr331 IMPACTS ON PEOPLE 15 storage were the main sources of water used to meet the public's demands. It was not until the winter of 1976-77 that many public entities realized that a serious drought was imminent. Water managers ap- pealed to the public to conserve water and to voluntarily reduce water use by 10 percent. Suggestions were offered on how to save water, some utilities furnished flow restrictors for showers and faucets, and the news media cooperated by publishing or televising pictures of reservoirs with very little water and by keeping the public informed. A small percentage of the public seems to be very skeptical of any warnings about hydro- logic phenomena that are usually considered natural, whether they are floods or droughts. Some people reacted by claiming that there was no serious drought and that one group or another was putting out propaganda to further its own motives. As the drought worsened, most skeptics became believers. Sometime during the period February-April 1977, mandatory water rationing was imposed in many areas, and additional water districts established reduced quotas during the summer. An allowance of 75 percent of the amount used during the same billing period in 1976 was fairly common, and other rations ranged from 30 to 90 percent. Users were warned once or twice if they exceeded their allowance. The next time they were penalized or fined for any overuse; and in a few homes, flow restrictors were installed so that it took 20 minutes to draw water for a bath. Typically, a few people made light of the drought. There were jokes about when or where one should use or not use water and stories of unique situations that no one could foresee. Someone suggested that you should shower with a friend to conserve water! A suburbanite drove to his club in San Francisco to shower before going to work, thus shifting his water use from his allotment to someone else's. And one citizen claimed the drought in California was caused by the rain in California which is only half as wet as rain should be! In spite of the carefree attitude and the people who would rather pay fines than curtail their water use, water use was reduced signifi- cantly and commonly below the ration allowed. Several public-supply systems found it nec- essary to raise rates because their operating costs remained about the same but revenues were less. The city of Bessemer, in the western end of the Upper Peninsula of Michi- gan, had to import water by truck starting in December 1976, after their wells went dry. The Marin Municipal Water District, just north of San Francisco, Calif., imposed one of the strictest water rationing programs upon their customers when they set a limit of just 50 gal per day per person. To ease the water shortage, they constructed a 24-inch pipeline across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and obtained water from the State Water Project through the facilities of the East Bay Muni- cipal Utility District. In the interim, entre- preneurs trucked water from San Francisco and other nearby areas to large estates to save the valuable landscaping and to dairies. This was a thriving business while it lasted. Rural Water Supplies Rural use of water other than for irrigation is primarily for domestic and livestock use. In 1975, 42 million people depended upon their own supply; and they withdrew 5 bgd (Murray and Reeves, 1977), an increase of 37 percent since 1950. About 95 percent of the rural do- mestic water and 58 percent of the water for livestock comes from wells. During the drought, shallow wells went dry or yielded meager quantities of water because the additional pumping from deeper wells lowered the water table more than in the past. Solutions to water problems at many individual homes and farms were not easy, and many were expensive. Numerous wells located in alluvium were deepened when one of the very busy well drillers could schedule the work and a loan could be obtained. In the Upper Pen- insula of Michigan, drilling wells deeper did not always produce enough more water to al- leviate the drought because in most of the area the deeper formations are not good aquifers. More than 1,000 wells in the Upper Pen- insula went dry, and the Michigan National Guard and State Police trucked water to some areas. In several northern Michigan counties, people had to obtain water for cooking and drinking from schools or com munity buildings that had wells with more dependable water supplies. Water for sanitary purposes was taken from streams and lakes.