Californians’ water savings appear to have leveled off, state water officials said Wednesday.
A day after more than a foot of snow fell in the Sierra Nevada and Southern California continued soaking up rain, State Water Resources Control Board staff said statewide cumulative water savings from June 2015 through December 2016 was 22.5 percent — a slight dip from November’s cumulative 22.6 percent.
That amounts to 793 billion gallons or 2,434,323 acre-feet of water saved.
“Conservation numbers have remained incredibly strong,” board Climate and Conservation Manager Max Gomberg said Wednesday afternoon in Sacramento as the board considers extending amended emergency water conservation regulations.
The Sierra Nevada snowpack water content, which creates spring and summer runoff that help build water supplies, is already at 127 percent of the April 1 average, yet half the state is locked in a sixth year of drought.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti urged the region’s residents to save water to help the environment — and their own wallets.
“The drought is not over, especially here in Southern California,” he said.
“Even as we have reservoirs that will get close to filling up, remember, the true reservoirs are the ones in the ground, and we’re still pretty bone-dry in most of our aquifers in the city,” Garcetti added.
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Staff Writer Elizabeth Chou contributed to this report.
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