Increasing the price of water would not work effectively either. Almonds have high margins and more pricing power than most crops. To say nothing of the obnoxious fact that around 2/3 of the US almond crop is exported (ie California is depleting their water supply to line the pockets of a billionaire almond cartel and exporting their scarce water resources in the process).

And even if the rich almond growers could somehow afford dramatically higher water prices, it still doesn't make sense to allow them to consume so much of California's water - water which is a critical, scarce public good being converted to very narrow private wealth.

The correct solution is to ban the growing of all almond, pistachio and walnut crops in California. The minimum they should do is ban the export of those crops, although that is likely still not enough.