LOS ANGELES—Directors of Southern California’s regional water wholesaler declared a drought emergency Nov. 9, calling on local water suppliers to implement all conservation measures possible to reduce usage. “We need immediate action to preserve and stretch our limited State Water Project supplies,” Gloria D. Gray, chair of the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) Board of Directors, said in a statement. “Southern California on average gets about one-third of its water from Northern California via the state project. Next year, we’ll be lucky to get a small fraction of that.” The declaration by the MWD board follows an Oct. 19 proclamation by Gov. Gavin Newsom of a statewide drought emergency. Newsom had previously issued the declaration for other parts of the state, but his October extension of the order added eight counties that had originally been excluded—Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, Ventura, Imperial, and San Francisco. In July, Newsom …