Newsom can't get Californians to cut their water use. His family is doing far better

Gov. Gavin Newsom has had a tough time convincing Californians to conserve water during the drought.

He's done a lot better with his own family.

Compared to a year ago, the Newsoms have reduced water usage on their spacious Fair Oaks home by 33% from late June to early November, according to records released by the governor's office Tuesday.

By contrast, urban Californians as a whole have reduced consumption by 5.7% since Newsom issued a call for 15% voluntary conservation, the State Water Resources Control Board said Monday.

The board added that conservation numbers for October, the most recent figures available, were considerably better at 13.2%.

Despite a significant atmospheric river dumping heavy precipitation in the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada, the state remains mired in one of the worst droughts on record. The state Department of Water Resources said recently that mandatory conservation measures are likely if conditions don't improve significantly over the winter.

"The drought isn't over," said Newsom spokeswoman Erin Mellon.

Newsom has encountered political difficulties by seeming not to always practice what he preaches. His decision to attend a dinner with a dozen people at the exclusive French Laundry restaurant last year, while Californians were being told to avoid large gatherings due to COVID-19, helped get the recall effort placed on the ballot. Newsom defeated the recall easily.

The governor's office released redacted bills showing water usage falling by a third. The property owners' names and address were blacked out, but Mellon said they're the Newsoms' bills. The records show the household achieved modest savings of about 8% in July and August but reduced consumption by nearly two-thirds since then.

The Newsom household is a big one. The governor, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and their children live in a 12,000-square-foot, six-bedroom home on eight acres; approximately 10 security personnel and support staff are on the property at any given time.

Mellon said the family has concentrated on taking shorter showers and running their dishwasher and washing machine only when full.

For the most part, though, the conservation has resulted from changes made outdoors — where most households use the lion's share of their water. The Newsom family had the Fair Oaks Water District make an on-site assessment of their water use, which prompted a switch to drip irrigation.

The district also discovered a significant leak in the property's irrigation system.

"They fixed that — that made a difference," Mellon said.