"Without water, you can't live in California," said Bill Whalen, who works on politics, and the politics of water, at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. "It ties into the California psyche.
"They have plush lawns and nice gardens that require lots of water."
California is faced with a double whammy of high temperatures and low rainfall exacerbated by an atmospheric pattern that for three years straight has diverted winter storms away from the state, depriving it of crucial precipitation.
The outlook, if global greenhouse gas emissions are not decreased, is a megadrought lasting 30 years for California and several southwestern states, a Nasa study said.
The state is in the fourth year of a severe drought. With its snowpack level near zero, the lowest recorded, Brown ordered California's 400 water agencies to cut output by 25 per cent or face fines.
Brown's announcement, however, created a divide by targeting urban residents but not farmers, who use 80 per cent of the state's water and grow crops such as rice and almonds that require prodigious amounts of water.
Adam Scow, the California director of Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit environmental group, said Brown's exclusion of farmers was a "failure to lead".
In a state where governors often give deference to the $40 billion agriculture industry, Scow said Brown's exclusion was "not a surprise". Farmers have sucked out so much groundwater for crops over the past decade that it cannot be replaced naturally. Yet there was no plan to regulate its removal until Brown signed legislation to manage groundwater last year.
Farmers are getting only 20 per cent of water they request from the State Water Project, which captures water in the northern parts of California and pumps it to water agencies.
"Agriculture is already taking a hard hit," said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board.
Whalen called Brown's restrictions a defining moment.
In his second term and final four years as governor under term limits, Brown "wants to do big things", Whalen said. It is his chance to bring a diverse group of stakeholders to his office to talk about water.
"First thing to talk about is agriculture's use of water, forcing them to look at whether we need thirsty crops like alfalfa," Whalen said. Developers, environmentalists and urban planners should all be at the table, he said.
In the Pasadena area, northeast of downtown Los Angeles, homeowners do not appear ready to take action. Along the winding roads leading to the Botanical Gardens in San Marino, dozens of workers trimmed lawns and watered flowers.
"It worries me," said Duran, who lives in the city known for the Rose Bowl, the Rose Parade and homes with huge emerald yards adorned with thirsty azaleas.
"I know a lot of people don't care. But what's going to happen in years to come?" Duran said that by making a switch from grass to sand and succulents, he saved US$900 on his two-month water bill.
"But my neighbours are not ready to do it," he said.
Down the street, Lenon Mitchell said he will not rip out his turf for a desert motif.
"I'll just keep it like it is and water it less 'til the rain comes back."
Brad Hooper, board president for the Western Carwash Association, said car wash owners saw the writing on the wall when they were hit with high water bills years ago and started using reclaimed water.
For beautiful lawns, Californians turn to landscapers such as Larry Rohlfes of the California Association of Landscapers.
People will still want their homes to look nice, and they will need experts to make over their lawns with a stunning desert flair. Change "is going to come as a shock to many of our members," Rohlfes said. California has to do something, said Kerry Townsend, who lives in Redondo Beach with her husband and two children.
"When I moved here nearly 10 years ago, we actually had a change of seasons through the winter," she said. "Now it feels like summer all the time, and it never rains. It has just gotten hotter over time."
- additional reporting Bloomberg
