Gov. Gavin Newsom asked in July for 15% reduction in water use, but residents have cut by just 6.4%.
As California’s severe drought worsens, with reservoir levels falling and the Sierra Nevada snow pack shrinking, the state’s residents — particularly in Southern California — are failing by a large margin to hit voluntary water conservation targets set by Gov. Gavin Newsom.and asked Californians to cut urban water use 15% compared to 2020 levels.
With wildfires, the pandemic and now a war in Europe, the public has spent the past two years immersed in crises. Some experts say that has made it more difficult for people to realize the severity of California’s drought. The central question now with a long, hot summer looming is whether Newsom will shift his water-conservation call from voluntary to mandatory, with financial penalties for cities and water districts that fail to hit the targets.
The Sierra Nevada snowpack — the source of nearly one-third of California’s drinking water — hit 168% of normal on New Year’s Day, boosting hopes that the drought was ending. But with almost no rain and snow since then, those hopes were dashed: On Tuesday the snowpack was just 58% of its historical average, with winter nearly over.
Cumulatively, from July 2021 to January 2022, Bay Area residents reduced water use by 11% compared with July 2020 to January 2021. But residents of the “South Coast” area, which includes Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County, reduced use by less than half that — 5.1%.
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