Californians slacking off on saving water

Drought conditions are still with us, but for a lot of Californians, it seems, the days of shorter showers and browner lawns have come and gone.

People up and down the state are slacking off on cutting back — using more water than in 2015 even as the state is dragged through a fifth straight year of drier-than-average conditions, records released Wednesday show.

Worried state regulators, who recently ended mandatory conservation targets for water districts, threatened to put them back in place if the situation doesn’t improve.

Sam Anguiano adjusts a high efficiency nozzle to a sprinkler head to complete a project converting a lawn to a drought resistent sustainable garden in Concord, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015. The Cowell Homeowners Association has been able to dramatically reduce its water use while maintaining its landscaping using an effective water management program. less Sam Anguiano adjusts a high efficiency nozzle to a sprinkler head to complete a project converting a lawn to a drought resistent sustainable garden in Concord, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015. The Cowell ... more Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close Californians slacking off on saving water 1 / 32 Back to Gallery

“We don’t want to cry wolf, but we also don’t want to go back to the water-wasting ways that we once had,” said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. “We need to be ready to step back in if we have another horrendously dry winter.”

California’s roughly 400 urban water agencies logged a cumulative 17.7 percent savings in August from the same month in 2013, the year before Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency. That was nearly 10 percentage points less than the savings in August 2015 and the third straight month that reductions missed the state’s 25 percent target.

The backsliding was apparent in affluent communities with big homes and lots of lawns — Hillsborough, for example, was 25 percent off its savings of a year earlier — and in middle-class enclaves such as Foster City, which actually used more water than in August 2013.

“But on a per capita basis, we’re still low,” pleaded Norm Dorais, Foster City’s public works maintenance manager.

The lapses come after the state water board lifted the unprecedented conservation mandates that Brown ordered last year. Many local water agencies said that last winter’s decent rainfall totals bumped up their supplies, so the state allowed them to start setting their own water-saving rules — or to go without them entirely.

Nearly all suppliers chose not to restrain customers.

In June, statewide water conservation slipped to 21.5 percent, six percentage points less than the same period in 2015. In July, conservation fell to 20 percent, 11 percentage points less than the same month last year.

“It’s hard to know whether this is an understandable relaxation or it’s a tapering off that means something,” Marcus said. “That’s why we’re expressing concern and digging into the numbers.”

Water board officials hinted that they would put pressure on water agencies where the savings numbers are especially bad. They also said they would consider restoring the previous rules, which forced cuts of up to 36 percent from 2013 consumption. Communities that didn’t meet the mandates faced the threat of hefty fines.

Statewide prohibitions on washing cars without a nozzle, allowing irrigation water to pool up on streets, watering outdoors within 48 hours of rain and serving water in restaurants without customer consent remain on the books.

Despite more rain and snow in the past year, water supplies across much of California remain lower than usual. About 60 percent of the state is mired in severe or extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a public-private partnership that evaluates water conditions.

Most major Bay Area water agencies have lifted mandatory conservation goals. Residents in San Francisco — whose relatively low water use makes it more difficult to cut back — showed continued conservation in August. The city reduced water use 12.4 percent over 2013 levels, only slightly less than last August’s 13.7 percent and above the 8 percent voluntary target.

Residents in the East Bay Municipal Utility District saved 16.2 percent in August, less than last year’s 26.8 percent mark but above the district’s 16 percent target.

Customers of the San Jose Water Co., one of the few agencies that have continued mandatory cuts on residents, saved 28.2 percent in August. That was down from last August’s 35.6 percent, but well above the district’s 20 percent target.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander