The State Water Resources Control Board announced that Californians’ monthly water conservation declined to 17.7 percent in August, down from 27 percent savings in August, 2015, raising concerns that some water suppliers are abandoning their focus on conservation as California heads into a possible sixth drought year. The cumulative average savings from June 2015 through August 2016 was 23.3 percent, compared with the same months in 2013. Since June, 2015, two million acre-feet of water has been saved — enough water to supply 10 million people, more than one-quarter the state’s 38 million population, for a year. While water conservation has dropped steeply among some local water suppliers, the State Water Board continues to monitor conservation levels and a return to state-mandated conservation may be necessary beginning next year.
