Sacramento Water Agencies Push to End Drought Conservation Orders

Sacramento-area water districts urged state regulators Wednesday to release their customers from Gov. Jerry Brown’s emergency urban water conservation order, contending that a relatively wet winter has made continued cutbacks unnecessary.

Local water officials made their case before the State Water Resources Control Board during a hearing Wednesday. The board was soliciting input on whether to revise, relax or rescind the mandates that flowed from the emergency order Brown issued last spring requiring California cities to reduce water use by an average of 25 percent compared with 2013. The board is expected to announce its proposed revisions in early May.