Californians make strong conservation showing in March

While not meeting the Governor’s mandate of a 25% reduction, Californians came close, conserving 24.3 percent in March. Statewide cumulative savings from June 2015 to March 2016 totaled 23.9 percent compared with the same months in 2013.

Nearly 1.3 million acre-feet of water has been conserved during the past 10 months and the state continues to save an impressive amount of water. A recent Field Poll found that Californians are committed to ongoing water conservation.

“While some parts of the state saw rain and snow, other parts, specifically the Central Valley and Southern California, didn’t; and yet, all Californians stepped up again to conserve water, because they know they can and that it is good for California,” said State Water Resources Control Board Chair Felicia Marcus.

A staff proposal that may offer revisions to the emergency water conservation regulations is expected soon. The board is expected to vote May 18 to change the regulations due in part to the amount of rain and snowfall this past winter. It is widely expected that the board will relax or drop entirely the conservation rules for Northern California, although it may keep some targets for Southern California.

Major reservoirs in the north, like Shasta and Oroville are near full, while reservoirs farther south, like Diamond Valley Lake in Riverside County is 43 percent full as of this week.

“It’s not time yet for a drought’s over party. That said, March brought us much needed rain and snow—still less than average but huge compared… where we were last year,” Chair Marcus said. “We’ve gotten a bit of a reprieve, but not a hall pass. Now we are figuring out how to appropriately adjust to a better but not ideal situation.”

Californians are urged to continue their water conservation habits throughout the spring months until the board acts later this month.