BERKELEY, Calif. — Eight months after California’s governor ordered cities to cut water consumption by a quarter, residents and businesses have exceeded expectations. But now, the state’s furious conservation drive is not only threatening trees but also resulting in sluggish sewer lines and possible increases in water and tax bills.

In declaring a drought emergency in April, Governor Jerry Brown said watering grass every day “is a thing of the past.’’ He neglected to say trees were exempt, so they stopped being watered.

Now the state is losing millions of trees that are stressed and wilting from water loss in high heat.

“I think it’s fair to say we think the drought is causing a problem,’’ said Carla Short, superintendent of the bureau of urban forestry in San Francisco.

The negative effect of the state’s conservation campaign has gone well beyond trees. Utilities that deliver the water to cities lost more than half a billion dollars over the last eight months as customers cut back, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.

Washington Post