Pat Brown, former governor of California, once told the University of California’s Oral History Program if they need water.

Pat Brown, father of current California Gov. Jerry Brown, said, “Whatever it costs you must pay. If you’re crossing the desert and there’s no water anyplace in sight and someone comes along and says, ‘I’ll sell you two spoonfuls of water for ten dollars,’ you’ll pay for it. The same is true in California”.

This philosophy of the unlimited water for every Californian at any price was far behind Pat Brown’s massive mid-century push for water projects in the Golden State. And now his son, who has recently announced California’s first mandatory water restrictions, have to bear the consequences.

Jerry Brown, standing in a dry stretch of the Sierra Nevadas typically under snowpack at this time of year, said that the world is different now and they have to act in a different way. He added that the idea that your nice little green grass will get ample of water every day is going to be a thing of the past.

It’s very difficult to think of this world more at odds with that of the former Gov. Pat Brown, who ran California from 1959 to 1967 and died in 1996.

Brown’s son Jerry has faced historic drought, and now he has to look for a way to slow that locomotive down. Keeping in mind the water crisis, he has ordered the cities and towns to cut water use by 25%. Some people are wondering that whether his plan was a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.