California’s Drought Is Officially Over

Following huge increases in statewide rainfall and mountain snowpack this season, Governor Jerry Brown proclaimed an end to the state’s drought Wednesday, but urged Californians to keep conserving water.

“While this season’s storms have lifted us out of the drought, it’s critical that Californians continue to watch their water use,” Brown said. “Drought or no drought, demand for water in California always outstrips supply. Continued conservation is key.”

Wednesday’s announcement follows the fourth snow survey of the season, conducted by the Department of Water Resources (DWR), which found that water content in California’s mountain snowpack is 165% of the April 1 full season average.

A majority of the state’s major reservoirs are also above normal storage levels. Lake Oroville in Butte County, the State Water Project’s principal reservoir, is 104% of average for the date (80% of its 3.5 million acre-foot capacity). Lake Shasta north of Redding, the federal Central Valley Project’s largest reservoir with a capacity of 4.5 million acre-feet, is at 111% of average (91% of capacity). And Lake Nacimiento, located near Paso Robles winegrape country, is full for the first time since 1983.

Still, DWR estimates it will be able to deliver only 70% of requested State Water Project (SWP) water this year. But that’s a lot better than recent years, when DWR scaled deliveries to growers on the west side of San Joaquin Valley way back. In addition, the 70% figure likely will be adjusted upward as hydrologists make adjustments for snowpack and runoff readings.

Given the heavy water inflow from the series of storms that have swept across California, the state’s flood managers are monitoring high river flows and making flood control releases from reservoirs to maintain storage space.

The situation is a far cry from what the state was experiencing less than three years ago, when vegetable growers canceled plantings and almond growers considered “stumping” their trees, a strategy that sacrifices the crop to save the orchard. On June 4, 2008, then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger issued Executive Order S-06-08, which proclaimed a statewide drought, and ordered executive branch entities to take immediate action to address the water shortage.

Just over one week later, Schwarzenegger proclaimed a state of emergency for nine Central Valley counties because the drought had caused conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property. Then on February 27, 2009, Schwarzenegger proclaimed a state of emergency for the entire state as the severe drought conditions continued and the impacts reverberated well beyond the Central Valley.

In declaring the drought over Wednesday, Brown was careful to encourage Californians continue to minimize water usage and engage in water conservation efforts, because the state’s reservoir construction has not come close to keeping up with population growth.