Californians cut water use 24.3 percent in March, the largest savings in any month since last September, state officials announced Tuesday.
The water savings came largely because El Niño storms soaked much of the state throughout that month, particularly Northern California, filling reservoirs and prompting homeowners to shut off their lawn sprinklers.
“This is the most welcome news we’ve had in a long time,” said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, which releases the monthly conservation data for more than 400 cities, water districts and private water companies.
Normally a tough month for water savings, Californians saved 35 billion gallons of water in March as compared to the same month in 2013 for a 24.3 percent water saving, state water officials reported.
“That is pretty remarkable after the rains. This says something about people knowing to turn off their sprinklers. It is the most welcome news we’ve had in a long time,” Marcus said Tuesday during a board meeting in Sacramento.
Although the drought emergency is largely over now in Northern California, hotter weather is already here, and scientists are forecasting a 71 percent chance of La Niña conditions by November, which could mean dry weather next winter.
Since last June, when the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown first imposed mandatory water conservation targets on urban areas to address the state’s historic drought, California’s urban residents have reduced water consumption by 23.9 percent overall during the 10-month period, compared with the same months in 2013, the baseline year.
Last June, Brown had set a goal of 25 percent.
Most of the gains in water savings came from Northern California and inland areas. Southern California as a region conserved 6.9 percent in February, the lowest of any region in the state. Water officials said saving water in winter is tough because water use is already low. Californians saved 13.6 billion gallons of water in February, which is almost 4.7 times the amount of water saved in February 2015 (2.9 billion gallons).
On April 20, the board met with hundreds of cities, water utilities and private water companies in an effort to reduce targets and adjust a new conservation plan that runs through October. The board will consider reducing targets due to water availability and hydrology as part of an adjusted water conservation plan later this month.
Because of the winter rains, which gave Northern California its wettest winter in five years, the state water board is scheduled to vote May 18 on changes to the conservation rules. The board is widely expected to relax or drop entirely the rules for Northern California, although it may keep in place some targets for Southern California.
The difference is largely due to rainfall. Many cities in the north this winter rain season have so far received about 100 percent of their historic average rainfall.
The snowpack in the northern Sierra was also greater than in the southern Sierra.
