Sure the regulators and politicians manipulate the situation to their own ends, but there is no doubt that water usage practices are unsustainable. The San Joaquin Valley, which basically feeds the rest of America, is desert. Las Vegas is desert. Look at how Israel irrigates with drip irrigation, then look at California, with massive irrigation channels left open to evaporate in the hot sun, and water liberally sprayed everywhere. And the government pushing water intensive rice farming in dry California! To sell to Japan! It's insane. Then they tell the people in the cities are told not to flush their toilets or take long showers... even though consumer use of water is less than 3% of all the water usage in the state. Zero money set aside to do something as simple as covering up those irrigation rivers, which would save more water than if the entire population stopped flushing and showering permanently.
It's a real problem. And it's made worse because, instead of fixing it, politicians use it to their advantage. Never let a crisis go to waste....
Now that I mention it, that's how politicians approach all problems. They try to find a way to turn them to their advantage. It's madness to expect these grifters to actually fix anything.