Timing is everything in politics. The same is true for moving public attitudes. Many have wondered when California would get serious about the severe drought. That moment arrived last week when Gov. Jerry Brown announced an executive order aimed at reducing the state’s water usage by 25 percent.

To emphasize the dire circumstances, Gov. Brown made his announcement in a location in the Sierra Nevada above 7,000 feet. Instead of being covered by snowpack, the ground was bare. It was a vivid depiction of drought.

As our sister publication, the Daily Astorian, noted in a recent editorial about antiquated water laws, the West suffers from a systemic impediment to smarter allocation of water resources. Even so, there is a lot that a governor can accomplish.

Brown announced a rebate program to push replacement of older generation washing machines and other appliances. The state Water Resources Control Board has issued orders to curtail lawn watering, and the Los Angeles Times said that 50 percent of Los Angeles water goes onto lawns. Clearly, there’s room for improvement in the ’burbs.

In addition to use restrictions, there are new planning guidelines in place that aim to feed the aquifer underneath L.A.

California was a desert when it was settled. Massive water projects fueled Los Angeles’ growth. That kind of aqueduct building is of another era, and was followed by an era when Pacific Northwest senators pressed defensive legislation to prohibit the study of transferring water out of the Columbia River.

Today the idea of more populous states tapping Northwest supplies seems even more out of sync. In Oregon and Washington, the watersheds that feed the Columbia River also have record low snowpacks, and much of this region is grappling with its own drought concerns.

All of the Western states should be looking at the broad array of conservation techniques known to hydrologists to conserve water use in urban settings and streamline delivery to agriculture for critical food production. Water conservation projects under way now in rural settings like Grant County are a step in the right direction, but as the new California restrictions make clear, this is a responsibility that all of us – urban and rural – must share.