State and regional water managers are considering permanently reinstating some watering bans and conservation programs.
Jerry Brown lifted California’s drought emergency status a year ago, after a wet winter that snapped a historic 2013-2017 drought, and the state ended his 25 percent mandatory conservation order.
Residents of an east Orange County water district used 203 gallons a day.
"I like the lawn," she said.
Residents of lower-income communities — with much less lawn — are some of the heroes when it comes to keeping water use down.
That includes residents of East Los Angeles, who used an average of 42 gallons a day, and people in Huntington Park, who got by on just 34 gallons.
U.S. drought monitors this month declared parts of Southern California back in severe drought, just months after the state emerged from that category of drought.
A winter of shorts and T-shirts, record warm days, and growing worry over water supply in Southern California are leading California’s Water Resources Control Board to consider next week whether to permanently reinstate some bans on water use that were imposed during the drought state of emergency.
Much of what snow does fall melts in place before spring runoff ever reaches the reservoirs that depend on it.
Water reservoirs are full from last winter’s welcome, near-record rain.