Records from the Bay Area’s largest water agencies, reviewed by The Chronicle, show customers across the region are conserving in only modest amounts, if at all.
Long showers continue to be the norm, cars still get hosed down, and sprinklers still soak green lawns despite pleas by local water officials to cut back.
In San Jose, water use in the first quarter of the year was actually up over the same period in 2013 – though officials there say conservation efforts are just kicking in.
Customers of the giant East Bay Municipal Utility District trimmed consumption by roughly 3 percent between early February and April, when compared to the average use for the period in the previous three years.
And in San Francisco, residents have scaled back about 8 percent by the same measure.
http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/California-drought-Voluntary-cutback-falls-short-5538084.php