In January, Brown declared a state of drought emergency and called on Californians to slash water consumption by 20 percent this year. Three months later, he stressed that "the driest months are still to come in California and extreme drought conditions will get worse."

Some municipalities still have a long way to go to hit the goal.

San Francisco residents reduced their water consumption by about 8 percent between early February and April, compared with the three-year average for that period. Across the bay, customers of the East Bay Municipal Utility District cut their use by about 3 percent.

In San Jose, the state's third largest city, water use in the first quarter of the year was actually up over the