Gov. Gavin Newsom asked state residents in July 2021 to reduce water usage by 15 percent during the height of the state’s driest years on record. But statewide water savings only reached 7 percent, fewer than 9 gallons per person per day.
Hayley Smith and Sean Greene
Los Angeles Times
The results are in: As California endured its three driest years on record, urban water users made a significant effort to conserve, but fell far short of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request to reduce water use by 15 percent.
Between July 2021, when Newsom first called on water users to voluntarily cut back, and March of this year, when he rescinded that request amid a very wet winter, statewide savings were 7 percent, or about half of what was requested. That amounts to about 9 fewer gallons per person per day, a Los Angeles Times analysis has found.
The findings varied considerably by region and by water district, with the North Coast and San Francisco Bay areas saving the most water — 14 percent and 12 percent, respectively — against the baseline year of 2020. The inland Tulare Lake and Colorado River regions saved the least, 4 percent and 2 percent, respectively. (The analysis did not include agricultural water use.)
State officials say the numbers belie the long-term conservation efforts Californians have made in recent decades, including significant savings during the 2012-16 drought, which ended only a few years before Newsom’s request.
But they also acknowledged that there is considerable room for improvement. Residential statewide use was, on average, about 85 gallons per person per day. For comparison, Californians would have used 79 gallons per day if they had cut their use by 15 percent.
“Absolutely we can do better than that,” said Charlotte Ely, conservation supervisor with the State Water Resources Control Board.
