SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Gov. Jerry Brown
declared an end to California's historic drought Friday, lifting emergency
orders that had forced residents to stop running sprinklers as often and
encouraged them to rip out thirsty lawns during the state's driest four-year
period on record.
The governor's order that keeps in place
conservation measures came as a springtime storm bears down on the waterlogged
state.
The drought strained native fish that migrate
up rivers, killed millions of trees, and forced farmers in the nation's leading
agricultural state to rely heavily on groundwater, with some tearing out
orchards. It also dried up wells, forcing hundreds of families in rural areas
to drink bottled water and bathe from buckets.
Brown declared the drought emergency in 2014,
and officials later ordered mandatory conservation for the first time in state
history. Regulators last year relaxed the rules after a rainfall was close to
normal.
But monster storms this winter erased nearly
all signs of drought, blanketing the Sierra Nevada with deep snow, California's
key water source, and boosting reservoirs.
"This drought emergency is over, but the
next drought could be around the corner," Brown said in a statement.
"Conservation must remain a way of life."
The governor lifted the drought emergency in
all California counties except Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Tuolumne, where
emergency drinking water projects will continue to help address diminished
groundwater supplies.
Water
conservation will become a way of life in the nation's most populous state,
said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, who
led conservation planning. Officials already have started charting long-term
rules to make California more resilient as climate change makes weather
patterns more severe.
"There's a greater appreciation of just
how precious water is," she said. "We've got to plan for longer
droughts."
Cities and water districts throughout the
state will be required to continue reporting their water use each month, said
the governor order, which also bans wasteful practices, such as hosing off
sidewalks and running sprinklers when it rains.
New rules are expected to permanently ban
wasteful practices, such as hosing off sidewalks and watering landscapes in the
days after it rains. Officials say they will work aggressively to stop leaks
that waste water.
Susan Atkins of the charity Self-Help Enterprises
said the drought is not over for more than 900 families who have large water
tanks in their yards because their wells dried up during the years long
drought.
Most of them are in Tulare County, a farming
powerhouse in central California's San Joaquin Valley. Atkins said she still
receives calls from people whose wells are running dry and need a tank and
bottled water.
"In no way is it over," she said of
the drought. "We will run out of money before we run out of people that
need help."
Article provided by:
Scott Smith
Associated Press