California residents have been forced to use less water with each passing year, but as drought becomes the new norm, they aren't just conserving, they're revolutionizing the way the state manages its water.

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Thirty years ago, conservation was easy because people were using so much water, noted Jeffery Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, during a panel discussion in Los Angeles last year.

When the district called for a 10 percent reduction in water use during a 2009 drought, people delivered, "But it took a lot of work," he said.

Data from the six homes participating so far will help water utilities estimate the capture potential for a large-scale program, says Andy Lipkis, executive director of TreePeople, an environmental group that is overseeing the StormCatcher project.

In all cases, homeowners use the water for irrigating their yards, reducing their draw on potable water the Department of Water and Power supplies.

During a visit in 1982, he recalls, he was struck by how intimately citizens were involved in water management, even in city suburbs.

If widely installed, these systems have the potential to reduce flooding by holding water in the cisterns during peak periods of rainfall, then gradually releasing it as the rainfall dies down, notes Daniel Beger, senior manager of policy at TreePeople.

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