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State Releasing Latest Water Figures, Discussing Penalties

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - State officials plan to tell Californians what penalties they are taking against communities that fail to meet a mandated 25 percent reduction in water use when they announce usage figures Friday, in the state's battle against a widespread drought.

So far Californians as a whole have cut back water consumption by more than 25 percent every month since Gov. Jerry Brown put that mandate into effect last June. Statewide cutbacks amounted to 27 percent in August, 31 percent in July and 27 percent in June.

That put the state about halfway toward its goal of saving 1.2 million acre-feet of water between June 2015 and February 2016.

An acre-foot or 325,851 gallons is about enough water to supply two households for a year.

The State Water Resources Board has said some parts of the state have failed to meet the mandated cutbacks. When it released water use figures for August the board revealed it had also issued 66 warning letters to water suppliers.

Officials said Thursday they plan to discuss recent enforcement actions taken for noncompliance when they reveal September's figures.

Fines were a possibility if noncompliance continued, the board's senior climate scientist, Max Gomberg, said last month.

He also warned that people shouldn't become lax about reducing water use amid reports that an anticipated El Nino weather condition could bring heavy rain to California this winter. With the state mired in a drought of historic proportions, officials say water conservation remains an ongoing necessity whether El Nino brings heavy rain or not.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.

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