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In May, the month when state officials said they would ease up on a year-old water conservation plan, consumers used less water than they did three years before.

For the month, water consumption statewide was down 28 percent from May of 2013, according to data released Wednesday by the state.

The period tracked in May includes a nearly three-week stretch after the May 9 announcement from state water officials that they would let many districts, including most in Orange County, switch from mandatory to voluntary water cuts.

San Diegans, and California residents in general, stepped up water conservation efforts in May, state water officials reported Wednesday.
Nearly all of the two dozen local water agencies in San Diego County posted large reductions in use compared to the same month in 2013, which the state uses as a benchmark.
The largest of the local water agencies, the city of San Diego, saw usage decline by 22.6 percent in May even though there wasn’t much rain after the first week of the month. Cumulatively since June 2015, water use in the city is down 18.4 percent.

Residents and businesses statewide, including those in San Diego County, continued to save water aggressively as officials began moving forward with loosening emergency conservation standards. Regulators on Wednesday released their analysis of water consumption in May, the most recent month for verified data. Their reports are issued monthly as part of a program created in response to California’s historic drought, which is deep into its fifth straight year. Water use in May was 28.2 percent lower than during the same month in 2013 — Gov. Jerry Brown’s benchmark time period for his conservation mandate, which took effect in June of last year.

City officials hope to better understand the health of Long Beach’s urban forest, which contains some 92,000 street trees throughout the city.

As cities across Southern California have grappled with a historic drought and worked to comply with state-mandated watering restrictions, trees and park systems have suffered, including those in Long Beach.

A handful of City Council members, led by 5th District Councilwoman Stacy Mungo, asked the council to support having the Public Works Department study the condition of the city’s street trees – and based on that assessment, develop a life-cycle management plan.

Council members opted to follow state and local recommendations and agreed to reduce the drought response to Level 1. Last month, when staff suggested the change based on increased water supplies due to winter storms and Carlsbad’s desalination plant going online, Councilman Don Mosier called the move “premature” and a “big mistake because…two-thirds of the state is still in a drought.” “You’re undoing a good program,” Mosier said at last month’s meeting in an effort to convince his colleagues to leave the response level unchanged. “This community’s adapted to using less water, and I think we should continue to do that.”