OrovilleMR.com reports Butte County supervisors are looking for ways to ignore 1881. Oroville, pop. 13,000, the county seat of Butte County, is in central northern California. Oroville lies on the banks of the Feather River, whose waters flow down from the Sierra Nevada to the flats of the California Central Valley.

Under the law, the county is supposed to adopt a model ordinance that requires a building or landscaping permit, plan check and a professional design review of private or developer-installed single or multi-family landscaping of 2,500 sq. ft. or more, or homeowner done or homeowner-hired landscapes of 5,000 sq. ft. or more.

The county has to administer the permits and do the plan checks. Individuals seeking permits must hire a professional to review the landscape design.

Of course, the law promotes conservation and water use efficiency, which can irk northern Californians. Oroville Supervisor Bill Connelly, chairman of the Butte County supervisors, reckons arid southern Calif. is forcing the north, which gets significant rainfall, to conserve water so it can be sent southward.

Other concerns of the supervisors are the costs of permitting and design reviews.

The law requires counties to tell the state Department of Water Resources how they have complied with the new mandate.

What would state water officials do if the county ignored the water law, wondered the Butte supervisors during a recent session?

The outcome is that Butte County supervisors agreed, unanimously, to take the necessary time to come up with an ordinance reasonable for Butte County.

Butte County Calif. supervisors are in no hurry to comply with the state mandated water bill. Lake Oroville in Butte County, north central California, is pictured.