Californians pitch in

The California Water Resources Control Board said last week that after Gov. Jerry Brown called for a 25 percent drought cut in water use in July, the state exceeded that goal, reducing water use by 31 percent over the same month a year ago.

Each community was assigned a different target figure. In one water district—Westborough—where the reduction target asked was only 8 percent, the district cut usage by 48 percent, highest in the state.

Nevada officials could not provide similar statistics for this state. Such figures are not collected.