Two months ago, Newsom asked Californians to voluntarily reduce their water consumptionby 15 percent.
The Sacramento Bee reportedthat three weeks after Newsom called upon residents to conserve water, data showed an overall reduction of less than two percent.
The chairman of the State Water Resources Control Board said Californians are going to have to do more to reduce water consumption.
He also predicted that the overall numbers for conservation would improve over time, as they had in the past. According to the data, Californians are consuming 15 percent less water than they were seven years ago.
Newsom’s appeal was made to Californians in response to the state’s ongoing drought, which has left many reservoirs at record lows and spawned a series of sprawling wildfires.
So far, the Governor has declined to impose mandatory conservation measures. During the previous drought, Governor Jerry Brown imposed a 25 percent restriction on water consumption.
