Jan. 05--As long-awaited rain comes to the state, regulators said Tuesday that California cut its water usage by 20.3% in November, staying on track to meet the target set by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The savings, compared with 2013, was the lowest in six months of reporting and moved California's cumulative savings down to 26.3%, still slightly above the 25% standard called for by Brown.
Water officials have said they expect savings percentages to be lower during the colder, rainier months, when people typically use less water and there is less room to cut back.
Indeed, Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, nodded to El Niopening the meeting by apologizing for a late start on what she called a "gloriously gloomy day."
"We're in the watch-and-wait season," Marcus said of the anticipated rain's effect on the drought.
"I want to be clear that the goalpost is still the [cumulative] 25%," she later added. "We're still winning the race. I don't want [Californians] to be discouraged."
To bring about a 25% cut in water consumption, the water board assigned conservation standards to each of the state's 411 urban suppliers last year.
Suppliers with a history of high per-capita water use were ordered to cut as much as 36% from 2013 totals. Suppliers with a history of lower consumption were told to cut as little as 8% or, in rare cases, even 4%.
Some have struggled mightily to meet their targets. Each month, a handful of suppliers finish more than 15 percentage points from their targets. Dozens more miss their marks by 5 to 15 percentage points.
The board already has penalized a few water suppliers for falling short of their mandates. Meanwhile, other water providers have been issued formal notices warning that they, too, could face fines if they fail to improve.
Many of those districts have complained that their individual targets failed to take into account regional climate or other factors.
So last month, state water board staff suggested a few changes to the drought order, which mandates a 25% cut. The effect of the modifications, which the board will vote on in February, would be to lower that number to 22%.
Under the proposed changes, regional climate would be considered, as well as local growth and the use of desalinated seawater and recycled water in drinking supplies. Together, the staff says the credits will trim statewide savings by 3 percentage points.
The regions that would most benefit from the revisions are hot inland and desert areas; Orange County, which replenishes its groundwater supplies with recycled water; and much of San Diego County, which is starting operation of a seawater desalination plant in Carlsbad.
But a water district's conservation target would drop by no more than four percentage points.
Depending on what the winter brings, the board this spring could revisit the issue and further modify the conservation mandate, which is to remain until the end of October.
"If we really do get a strong El Ni.. I could see reducing it or even potentially getting rid of it," Max Gomberg, the board's climate and conservation manager previously told The Times. "But conversely, if El Nioesn't show up and we're in year five and things are as bad or worse than last year, it could go up from 22%."
Times staff writer Bettina Boxall contributed to this report.
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