FRESNO, Calif. -- Figures released Wednesday show Californians' August water use was up compared with the same time last year, making water regulators worry some areas have abandoned drought-time water savings since the state lifted mandatory conservation orders.
"We're at yellow alert," said Felicia Marcus, chairman of the state Water Resources Control Board, as the board released August figures showing conservation by cities and towns dropping.
Water regulators will be looking closely at the causes for the increased water use, Marcus said. "I'm not ready to go to red alert until we figure it out," she said.
California is heading into a possible sixth consecutive year of drought with uncertainty of what this coming winter -- the rainy season in the state -- will do to ease the historic dry spell, officials said.
Last winter, a near-average amount of rain and snow fell in Northern California, prompting officials to relax conservation efforts statewide by turning over control to local water districts.
That may have been a mistake, said Tracy Quinn, a water expert in Southern California with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Quinn said Wednesday that she notices more Californians going back to running water sprinklers full-tilt, and hears friends and family members expressing uncertainty over whether the state is even in drought anymore.
"It's very clear that at least in this drought, voluntary conservation hasn't been successful," Quinn said. "What got us the savings we need is mandatory conservation throughout the state."
Overall, California cities and towns saved less than 18 percent on water in August, compared with the period before Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency. The amount saved was down 36 percent from August 2015, when urban Californians were under Brown's order to cut water use by 25 percent.
Water districts on the southeastern coast were among the highest water users, state officials reported Wednesday.
Poor-performing districts include La Habra in Orange County, Casitas Municipal Water District in Ventura County, Lake Lee Water District in Riverside County and Norwalk, a city of just more than 100,000 residents in Los Angeles County.
In Norwalk, city official Adriana Figueroa cited a record-keeping error by the local water supplier and said the city still has all its drought-time water-use restrictions in force.
Representatives for the other districts did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A Section on 10/06/2016