California's water usage jumped nearly 19% in March
FILE - A small stream runs through the dried, cracked earth of a former wetland near Tulelake, Calif., on June 9, 2021. Southern California's gigantic water supplier has taken the unprecedented step of requiring some 6 million people to cut their outdoor watering to one day a week as drought continues to plague the state. SACRAMENTO, Calif. — — Californian's drought is worsening and yet residents used more water in March than any month since 2015, defying pleas for conservation from Gov.
Water usage jumped nearly 19% in March, which was one of the driest months on record. Newsom last summer asked residents to voluntarily cut water use by 15%. He encouraged people to water their yards less often, run dishwashers less and install more efficient appliances. The state's conservation rate gradually increased, aided by some intense fall and early winter storms that reduced water demand. But the first three months of 2022 have been some of the driest ever recorded. Water use increased slightly in January and February before exploding in March when compared to 2020 figures.Newsom responded to the news by pledging to spend an extra $26 million on water conservation programs, in addition to the $190 million he proposed in January.
A series of April storms have improved things slightly since March. Still, most of the state's reservoirs are well below their historic averages. Those reservoirs rely on melting snow to fill up for the dry summer months but the statewide snowpack was at just 27% of its historic average as of April 1.
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