SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California water use jumped nearly 19 percent in March from 2020 as residents opposed requests for protection from Gov. Gavin Newsom and other authorities amid a severe drought. civil servants announced on Tuesday.
Last summer, Newsom asked residents to voluntarily reduce water consumption by 15% compared to 2020. It encouraged people to water their yards less frequently, run fewer dishwashers and install more efficient appliances.
The level of protection of the state is gradually increasing, aided by some intense autumn and early winter storms, which reduce water demand. But the first three months of 2022 are some of the driest ever recorded. Water use increased slightly in January and February before exploding in March as more people began watering their lawns.
This was the most water used by Californians in March since the middle of the previous drought in 2015. Since July, the state has reduced its total water consumption by only 3.7%.
Newsham responded to the news by promising to spend an additional $ 26 million on water conservation programs, in addition to the $ 190 million it proposed in January. In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garsetti announced that residents and businesses will have to reduce outdoor watering from three days a week to two. Irrigation accounts for 35% of the city’s water consumption.
A series of April storms slightly improved March. However, most of the country’s reservoirs are well below their historical averages. These reservoirs rely on melting snow to fill during the dry summer months, but the nationwide snow cover was only 27% of its historical average as of April 1st.
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This story has been corrected to show that Californians used the most water in March 2015, not the most water used in any month since 2015.
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