Californians once again failed to save as much water as the governor demanded — but new conservation figures suggest people are improving as the drought intensifies, with some going well beyond the call.

Numbers released Tuesday, a day after the state enacted unprecedented mandatory water cuts, show freewheeling California used 13.5 percent less water in April, compared with the same month in 2013, well short of the 25 percent reduction ordered by Gov. Jerry Brown.

At the same time, the data from state water officials show that strict crackdowns in some places, leading even to a climate of shame around water waste, are spurring many to rethink routine activities like showering and watering the lawn. April’s water savings, though insufficient, is the biggest this year, and it’s a whole lot bigger than the 3.9 percent cut recorded in March.

Some Bay Area cities, including Pleasanton, Livermore and Benicia, reduced their April water use by a third or more, even as other places, such as Millbrae, appeared to ignore the cry for conservation.

The state water board, at its meeting this week, praised the new numbers as progress. Officials said it is a sure sign that communities can live up to the reduction targets rolled out June 1, which call for cuts of 4 to 36 percent from 2013 consumption. Under the plan, larger water users are slapped with larger cut orders in an attempt to achieve a cumulative drop in urban water use of 25 percent.

Until this week, all efforts to slash usage were voluntary.

“I’m sort of feeling like the local communities are stepping up in a way that they weren’t,” said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board.

“The real challenge is: we really have to step it up for the summer months,” she added.

Even though the governor’s conservation goal is yet to be met, it’s become clear that in many places shorter showers, fewer toilet flushes and dead lawns have finally become the norm as California settles into a fourth year of drought.

“The yards are really going to start turning brown now that it’s warming up and people continue to conserve,” said Daniel Smith, director of operations services in Pleasanton, where residents and businesses cut water use an astonishing 38 percent in April.

‘We really understand’

Smith said hitting his city’s reduction target of 24 percent this month wouldn’t be hard because the water department has been pushing conservation measures since last year, including mandatory water cuts, and residents are already well versed in how to save.

“The general feeling here is that we really understand what’s going on in California with the water situation,” he said.

Not every place is positioned as well for the new cuts.

In the Bay Area, Millbrae failed to conserve any water in April from the same month in 2013 — meaning a zero percent reduction, according to the state figures. The city faces a 16 percent target this month.

Hollister, which will have to cut 20 percent this month, reduced just 4 percent in April, while Burlingame, with a 16 percent target, cut back only 6 percent.

Lisa Goldman, Burlingame’s city manager, dismissed April’s numbers as an aberration from the city’s normally strong conservation record.

“You’re going to get seasonal variations, but when you look at the full reporting period, we’re doing very well,” she said, noting that since June, when the state began reporting water savings, Burlingame has cut back close to 18 percent, above its assigned reduction of 16 percent. “We’re going to maintain our commitment to conservation and staying above the target.”

Communities that don’t hit their target face fines of up to $10,000 a day. Failure to meet the benchmarks will also subject cities and water agencies to orders from the state to take specific conservation actions, such as limiting outdoor watering to just one day a week. Currently, local leaders are charged with coming up with their own plans for cutting back.

The bulk of the laggards in April were in Southern California. The coastal stretch that includes Los Angeles and San Diego cumulatively reduced its water use just 8.7 percent from the same period in 2013, according to the state data.

The Bay Area, meanwhile, recorded a 19.9 percent region-wide cut while the Sacramento area saw a 23.7 percent cut.

Governor’s mandate

The conservation gains in April were largely because of the attention given to the drought that month.

Standing dramatically in a dry mountain meadow to illustrate the historically low snowpack on April 1, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered the mandatory cutbacks, which the state water board spent the rest of the month divvying up among communities.

April was also slightly wetter, meaning less water was needed for irrigation.

Since last June, statewide conservation has averaged just 9 percent.

“We haven’t come as far as we need to go,” said Max Gomberg, senior environmental scientist for the state water board. “We need to step it up.”