Californians getting drought message: Water usage plunges

California residents cut their water use by nearly 29 percent in May compared with the same month in 2013, the steepest reduction since officials began calling for people to conserve last year, according to figures the state released Wednesday.

The 28.9 percent drop was well above the 11 percent cumulative savings registered in the year since Gov. Jerry Brown called for voluntary statewide cutbacks of 20 percent.

[...] there was optimism Wednesday that residents across the state might finally be looking at the lack of rain not as a dusty irritation, but as a threat to the state’s quality of life.

“We hope we’ve hit a turning point in terms of people getting the message, that it’s sinking in that we’re in a severe drought,” said Katheryn Landau, an environmental scientist for the State Water Resources Control Board.

Asked the secret to Hillsborough’s success, interim City Manager Kathy Leroux could point to no single factor.

Average daily water use per person was 66.4 gallons — the lowest per capita residential figures for any part of the state except the North Coast.