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In drought-ravaged California, water use is up dramatically

FILE— Signs alert visitors to the severe drought in Mendocino, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021. California's water usage jumped nearly 19% in March of 2022, during one of the driest months on record, state officials announced, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. Visitors to the picturesque coastal town of Mendocino this summer might once again find signs announcing the need for water conservation. (AP Photo/Haven Daley, File)

FILE - Sean de Guzman, manager of snow surveys and water supply for the California Department of Water Resources, plunges the snowpack measuring tube into a small patch of snow on the snow course as he conducts the fourth snow survey of the season at Phillips Station near Echo Summit, Calif., on Friday, April 1, 2022. California's water usage jumped nearly 19% in March during one of the driest months on record, state officials announced, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. The statewide snowpack was at 27% of its historic average as of April 1. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli File)

Water flies from a sprinkler watering a lawn, in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, May 10, 2022. California's water usage jumped nearly 19% in March during one of the driest months on record, state officials announced, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

In drought-ravaged California, water use is up dramatically