Urban Californians stepped up to the plate again in July, beating Governor Jerry Brown’s statewide mandate for 25 percent water savings.
“We’ve got a lot of people hitting home runs,” said Felicia Marcus, who chairs the State Water Resources Control Board, and is sometimes referred to as California’s “water czar.”
Across the state, urban water agencies cut total water use by 31.3 percent, compared to July in the benchmark year of 2013.
State officials conceded that freak July rains probably helped the cause, as some homeowners turned off lawn and garden sprinklers, at least temporarily.
Hover over the dots to see July conservation numbers:
Water Board staffers called out a few Bay Area cities for their standout performance, including Menlo Park, which has effectively halved its water use since May, and San Francisco, which has whittled its daily use down to an average of 40 gallons per person.