[KHTS] – With officials asking for drought-induced water cutbacks, Santa Clarita Valley residents are doing their part to help local reservoirs, the area’s municipal water retailers say.

The reduction reflects water conservation numbers released by Santa Clarita Valley’s water retailers: Valencia Water Company, Santa Clarita Water Division, Newhall County Water District and Los Angeles County Waterworks District 36.

“Our customers saved 850 million gallons of water in 2014,” said Keith Abercrombie, general manager for Valencia Water Company.

Since “the drought was three to four years in the making,” it will be tough to end, Abercrombie said.

“The drought has not been broken (despite the recent rain),” Abercrombie said, adding it would take 200 percent to 300 percent of normal rainfall to potentially end it.

“We welcome any rainfall,” he added.

Even after these rain events, our state’s reservoirs are still at one-third of their capacity.

“If it’s raining, customers need to turn off their sprinklers until about seven to 10 days after it rains,” Abercrombie said, noting its especially important to do so during winter.

After being asked to start implementing regulations in July 2013, looking at the period of 2013-14 the agency has seen a 14 percent reduction in water demand, said Dirk Marks, water resources manager for the Castaic Lake Water Agency.

Before the December rain, 60 percent of California was in the extreme drought category, now 30 percent has moved out of the extreme category to severe. Both of these are the two most extreme classifications.

“There is still a long way to go before reservoirs are full. The December rain was nice, but barely a bump,” Marks said.

During the summer, the three day a week watering schedules has been the biggest contributor to the water conservation. Although in November, the watering schedule changed to two days a week.

More tips to save water are to continue to focus on irrigation of lawns and landscaping, as well as indoor water use.

Residents can also look into installing drought tolerant plants.

– Angelina Bryan