Californians cut their water consumption almost 29 percent in May compared to their use in 2013, exceeding the aggregate 25 percent reduction demanded by Gov. Jerry Brown.

But Benicia did even better. Much better.

Benicia as a community cut its use by 43 percent in May, making it among the best at conserving in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to statistics released by the State Water Resources Control Board.

Topping the Bay Area in savings is the California Water Service in Livermore, which cut back that month by 52 percent. North Marin Water District and Hillsborough both reduced usage 49 percent; Pleasanton cut back 46 percent. Other big savers were Livermore Division of Water Resources (44 percent), Palo Alto (43 percent), and Dublin-San Ramon (42 percent).

Among other Bay Area cities and agencies, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission managed only a 17-percent cutback.

The Water Board has acknowledged that San Franciscans have few lawns and landscaping, and in most places in that city outdoor irrigation conventionally accounts for at least half of a customer’s use of potable water.

Among Benicia’s neighbors, Vallejo reduced its use 28 percent, and Martinez customers came close, with a 27-percent drop. American Canyon reduced its use 24 percent compared to May 2013, and the Suisun-Solano Water Authority cut back 29 percent.

Scott Rovanpera, Benicia water treatment plant superintendent, conceded that Benicians’ use of water was high in May 2013, the year the Water Board is using as a benchmark.

“The state enjoyed heavy rains in December 2012, and then it stopped raining,” Rovanpera said.

“Benicia residents waited for Mother Nature to water their lawns, but by May, they couldn’t wait any longer and set their irrigation timers to summer levels. By June, they realized that it was the beginning of a serious drought, six months before the governor declared one,” he said.

“Now, after four years of serious drought, Benicia residents have cut back on outdoor irrigation, altered how they use their domestic water supply and demonstrated that they can meet true water conservation goals that exceed what the state had asked.”

Rovanpera said many of the cities that cut back deeper than Benicia are those that are undergoing mandatory reduction, such as Livermore, Dublin and Pleasanton, or those with residents and companies that watered even more heavily in 2013.

“It was no surprise that those cities scored high, because they had no other choice — they were already being rationed,” he said.

In contrast, Benicia residents and companies began conserving voluntarily in the beginning, then complied with City Council-approved drought ordinances.

“Benicia citizens care!” Rovanpera said. “They care about their community, they care about their environment and they care about real problems. The drought only showed what a community can do when they rally their forces to solve a problem, which was to conserve as much water now until the drought is over.”

He said residents realize they are living in a “full-service” city, and said they know they can “control our own destiny more than those communities that are served by special districts.”

Joining residents in the conservation effort are city employees, Rovanpera said, and municipal departments are demonstrating dramatic reductions in water usage.

He cited the 30,000-gallons-a-day reduction at the wastewater treatment plant, achieved by recycling wastewater for pump seal water.

He said the Parks and Community Services Department slashed irrigation consumption by a third in Benicia’s parks. Benicia Fire Department has reduced its hydrant flow testing, and the Corporation Yard suspended its weekly distribution system flushing program.

In the Benicia Water Quality Division, employees deployed what Rovanpera called “a very aggressive public outreach program for citizens, showing how one can conserve 20 to 25 percent at their home with very simple remedies.”

Benicia City Manager Brad Kilger said the City Council gets monthly updates on water and drought conditions in the city, but said he was pleased with the state’s report.

“Bottom line, I am very impressed with how our community has responded to this unprecedented drought,” Kilger said after the Water Board released its numbers.

“For the city’s part, in addition to making significant cuts in our water usage, we are continuing to conduct leak detections and improvements in our water distribution system and are aggressively investigating cost-effective water recycling projects to reduce water loss and our long-term water demand needs.”

The city has earmarked capital improvement money for the Public Works Department to address other water concerns in the next two years, particularly those raised by the 2014-15 Solano County Grand Jury, which has looked at water loss and accountability of all municipal water systems in Solano County.

Benicia Public Works Director Graham Wadsworth said most of the recommendations handed down by the grand jury are in the 2015-25 Capital Improvement Program, though not all have been made part of the Water Fund budget.

The grand jury wants Benicia to conduct routinely scheduled water audits to improve control of water loss and for water supply planning; identify and replace aging infrastructure, address inaccurate water meters; and expand and enforce water conservation measures for both residential and commercial customers.

Kilger has composed a response to Judge E. Bradley Nelson that the City Council will consider authorizing during its meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 250 East L St. He wrote that Benicia would start semi-annual water audits using free water audit software from the American Water Works Association, and would make the information available to customers.

Some of that data will help Benicia develop a formal leak detection program as well as a water meter reliability program, he wrote.

Through employment of those programs, Kilger wrote, staff hopes to reduce the city’s unaccounted-for water from 26 percent to less than 10 percent.

The grand jury found that every city in Solano County, not just Benicia, has deteriorating water delivery systems. Kilger wrote that Benicia contracted for a water master plan, and is seeking funding to complete the projects within that plan.

Meanwhile, the city established a water service replacement program in 2000 to exchange Southampton subdivision’s polyethylene service laterals with those made of copper. About 80 percent has been replaced, as have some of the cast-iron pipes and asbestos concrete pipes in the city’s downtown area.

The city has been searching for water leaks since April, and that effort should be finished in October, Kilger wrote, with repairs to be completed by December. That effort may be expanded into a water main condition assessment so those pipes can be examined and maintained regularly, he added.

The grand jury said all of Solano County’s cities have under-recording meters, and Kilger conceded that Benicia has no current water meter reliability program.

“Nearly 60 percent of the residential water meters are 30 years old or older, and nearly all of the commercial meters are over 40 years in age,” he wrote. Since they are all mechanical, they deteriorate as they age, he explained, and that may account for at least half of the city’s unaccounted-for, so-called “missing” water.

Public Works employees have recommended replacing mechanical water meters with solid-state models and that an automated meter infrastructure (AMI) be built so the Finance Department can collect meter data daily.

Kilger wrote that the department will start a meter testing program, using an independent laboratory once the solid-state meters are in place. Much of that work may be completed in 2016, pending Council approval, he wrote.

The grand jury also recommended each of Solano County’s cities expand water conservation measures. According to Gov. Brown’s executive order, Benicia initially was required to cut water use 28 percent compared to 2013 usage, but that requirement was reduced June 9 to 20 percent after city employees submitted gallon-per-person calculations for local customers. “Benicia already is way ahead of state-mandated targets,” Kilger wrote.

“The efforts of all Benicia water customers are acknowledged and appreciated. Not only are residents exceeding state-mandated goals, Benicia’s conservation rate in May was among the highest in the state.”