San Diego County residents will need to permanently curtail their water use under an order issued Monday by Gov. Jerry Brown that bans activities such as hosing off sidewalks and requires urban suppliers to continuing producing monthly reports on water reduction efforts.

The order calls for long-term implementation of temporary water conservation measures put in place to combat the ongoing statewide drought, with Brown pointing to some parts of the state that are still dealing with dry conditions and the likelihood of continued water shortages.

San Diego’s mayor and City Council have been getting national attention for their landmark Climate Action Plan, precisely for one simple characteristic of it: It is legally enforceable.

But Mara Elliott, a city attorney candidate who as a chief deputy city attorney oversaw the vetting of the policy, says that’s just not true. “The entire policy right now is, frankly, a dream until they find ways to implement it,” she said.

Inland water officials may finally get what they wanted: the opportunity to set their own conservation targets. And that could bring relief to thousands of homeowners who have struggled to cut back and still keep lawns and gardens alive.

After a year of enforcing a 25 percent reduction statewide and some sharper cuts locally, state officials Monday proposed setting aside mandated targets and letting agencies develop their own goals for this summer and fall, citing the wet winter up north that refilled crucial reservoirs. The State Water Resources Control Board is scheduled to take up the plan May 18.