(Mavensnotebook) - Californians came just shy of meeting Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s 25 percent water conservation mandate for the nine months since mandatory urban conservation began. Statewide cumulative savings from June 2015 to February 2016 totaled 23.9 percent compared with the same months in 2013.

“Twenty-four percent savings shows enormous effort and a recognition that everyone’s effort matters,” said State Water Resources Control Board Chair Felicia Marcus. “Californians rose to the occasion, reducing irrigation, fixing leaks, taking shorter showers, and saving our precious water resources in all sorts of ways.”

With nearly 1.19 million acre-feet of water conserved from June 2015 through February 2016, the state achieved 96 percent of the savings goal of 1.24 million acre-feet of water. Water saved during the nine month period is enough to supply more than 5.9 million Californians for one year; this is approximately the combined population of San Diego, Riverside, and Tulare counties, or 15 percent of the state’s population.

Statewide, the conservation rate dropped from 17.1 percent in January to 12 percent in February, likely because February 2016 was one of the warmest and driest Februaries since the drought began. In addition, residents generally use much less water for outdoor irrigation in the winter months, so there is less opportunity for high volume, and percentage, savings.

As the wet season draws to a close in April – and with water suppliers, residents, and businesses posing important questions about the future of water conservation in California – the State Water Board will hold a public workshop on April 20 to receive input on conservation needs through the summer. The workshop will consider adjustments to the current emergency regulations given available water supply, storage, and snowpack.

In the meantime, Californians are urged to continue applying their water conservation skills and habits through the spring months. These efforts should include complying with urban water supplier directives on when outdoor irrigation is permitted, not irrigating outdoors during and within 48 hours following a rain event, and fixing leaks that are discovered during individual water user audits.