Californians cut water use 27 percent

California residents cut their water use 27.3 percent in June, exceeding Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) orders.

It is the second month in a row in which California’s residential water use declined more than 25 percent compared with the same month in 2013, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

{mosads}It is especially impressive given that it was the hottest June on record for the state, which would usually cause an increase in water use.

“The June numbers tell a story of conscious conservation,” Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, told the Mercury News. “That’s what we need.”

“We have to take the ‘better safe than sorry’ approach,” she added. “We absolutely don’t know when this drought will end.”

Menlo Park, in the San Francisco Bay area, cut its water use 46.7 percent, the most of any city. Livingston, a small city, was the worst, with only a 3 percent decrease.

In May, residential water use fell 29.1 percent across the state, the most since Brown’s order earlier this year.