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San Diegans used 17 percent less water last month than in March 2013, beating the state-mandated goal of a 13 percent reduction, the San Diego County Water Authority announced Monday.

March was the first month in which lowered conservation targets were in effect. The former goal was 20 percent, but the state eased its orders for agencies in the San Diego region after the desalination plant in Carlsbad began production. Since the mandates went into effect last June, the cumulative reduction has been 21 percent, the SDCWA reported.

Los Angeles insists that it had the best of intentions as it erected the monument of granite and sculpted earth that is now rising from a dry bed of Owens Lake 200 miles to the north.

Department of Water and Power officials saw it as a gesture of reconciliation for taking the region’s water more than a century ago. The interactive artwork, to be unveiled this week, features a public plaza with curved granite walls inspired by the wing shapes of shorebirds. Sculptures of earth and rock have been made to resemble whitecaps. Scenic gravel trails wind throughout.

“The Claude ‘Bud’ Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant has been honored with a Global Water Award as the Desalination Plant of the Year for 2016 by Global Water Intelligence, publisher of periodicals for the international water industry,” the San Diego County Water Authority said in a press release on Friday.

“The largest seawater desalination plant in the nation, it started commercial operations in December 2015 and is providing the San Diego region with a drought-proof water supply during one of the most severe droughts in California’s recorded history.”

Despite an ongoing drought, the San Diego County Water Authority is boasting in its annual report — released April 21 and titled “Beyond Drought” — that the region’s water supply is stable and in excess of current demand, despite mandatory conservation measures remaining in place.

“While some areas of the state suffered serious water supply shortages after four years of drought, the Water Authority and its member agencies had enough water to meet demands,” reads a statement from the authority’s board of directors accompanying the report.

Last week the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) board did not take the action that many local water agencies, including Valley Center Municipal Water District (VCMWD) had feared, i.e. adopting a Fixed Treatment Charge.

On April 12 the MWD board voted not to implement the fixed treatment charge at least for a 2-year period. MWD rates are going up, effective January 1, 2017, but not to the degree that had been discussed as recently as a week ago.