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Jerry Brown

California cities cut water use 13.5% in April

Sammy Roth
The (Palm Springs) Desert Sun
Sprinklers water grass at a home in Bermuda Dunes, Calif. on April 11, 2015.

A new report on California's water use shows some progress reducing use in the drought-parched state, helped in part by a wetter and colder April.

California cities and towns used 13.5% less water in April 2015 than they did in April 2013, said the State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday. Over the last 11 months, use dropped 9%.

Water conservation rose in April, helped by a late chill. But don't expect those conditions to last, said a state water representative.

"What little snow accumulated through April, we lost that in the month of May," John Lehigh, who oversees operations for the State Water Project, said at Tuesday's meeting. "There is no runoff from snowpack at this point, basically."

Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown has ordered cities and towns to use 25% less water than they did in 2013, starting this month. In areas where per-capita water use is highest — including much of the Southern California desert Coachella Valley — residents are being told to cut water use by 36%.

The fact that April 2015 was slightly wetter and slightly cooler than April 2013 accounts for some of the reductions, officials said at Tuesday's meeting. But Californians have also worked hard to cut back, they said.

"Anecdotally, I think it's real effort," said Max Gomberg, a senior environmental scientist with the water board. "When they saw the governor out on that dry meadow, and saw what was in the executive order, they realized it was time to start stepping up."

Spurred by a record-low snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, Brown announced California's first-ever mandatory water cutbacks April 1. Standing in a field that would usually be covered in snow, Brown argued the state's historic drought requires residents to fundamentally rethink how we use water.

To meet Brown's overall 25% mandate, the state water board is requiring different water agencies to cut back by different amounts, depending on how much water their customers use.

Brown's mandatory cutbacks didn't take effect until June 1, so water agencies still have time to convince customers to cut back before the agencies risk state fines as high as $10,000.

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