Californians using less water ahead of mandatory cuts

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Californians are using less water, but they’ll have to conserve a lot more to reach the mandatory drought cuts taking effect this month, according to the latest numbers released Tuesday.

California residents reduced overall water use by 13.5 percent in April compared to the same month in the benchmark year of 2013, water officials said.

That’s the second-best conservation achievement since state officials started closely tracking water use more than a year ago, but it fell short of the 25 percent cut that Gov. Jerry Brown made mandatory for cities and towns as of June 1.

“Local communities are stepping up in a way they weren’t before, and I’m hoping that’s why we are starting to see the uptick” in conservation, said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the state Water Resources Control Board.

“The real challenge is, we really have to step it up for the summer months,” Marcus said. “If we miss the summer, we are toast.”

April’s still-lackluster overall savings reported by the roughly 400 water agencies in the state could raise concerns about whether Californians have fully acknowledged the severity of the drought.

This year’s Sierra Nevada snowpack, which feeds the state’s rivers, was the lowest on record – a grim image that served as Brown’s backdrop when he announced unprecedented conservation measures on April 1.