A report from the Public Policy Institute of California says the state’s cities and suburbs responded well to the unprecedented mandate to cut water use by 25 percent during the drought. The PPIC says by some measures, the state’s water conservation requirement was a success. Californians cut water use 24 percent on average while the economy grew. But report authors call the mandate a “blunt instrument” that increased tension between the state and local water agencies. Instead, the report notes the strategy state regulators implemented near the end of the drought was more appropriate.