LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Following a winter that brought heavy rain and snowstorms, on Friday Gov. Jerry Brown ended the drought state of emergency throughout most of California, at the same time as a long-term state plan to deal with future water shortages was released.
“This drought emergency is over, but the next drought could be around the corner,” Gov. Brown said. “Conservation must remain a way of life.”
Brown on Friday issued Executive Order B-40-17, which lifts 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.
That new order also rescinds two emergency proclamations from January and April 2014 and four drought-related executive orders issued in 2014 and 2015, the Governor’s Office reported.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, most of California – with the exception of all or part of 11 Southern California counties – is no longer in drought conditions.
A year ago, almost all of California – with the exception of Del Norte County and most of Humboldt – was in drought. At that time, the drought monitor listed most of Lake County as “abnormally dry” and a portion on the eastern side of the county as being in “severe drought.”
At the start of January, the U.S. Drought Monitor listed Lake County as still being “abnormally” dry, but by the time of its next assessment at the end of March, the county was no longer listed as being in any level of drought.
That change in status has followed a winter of heavy rain and flooding across the county, with Clear Lake being above its “full” level of 7.56 feet on the Rumsey gauge.
State officials reported that California’s climate is the most variable in the nation, naturally swinging between flood and drought, with climate change adding to that variability.
California’s recent historic drought included the driest four-year period statewide precipitation on record (2012-2015), the warmest three years and the smallest Sierra snowpack in state history, at just 5 percent of average. At the same time, this winter’s storms created one of the highest precipitation totals in the last 150 years, the state reported.
Keeping that variability in mind, during the drought emergency, the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, the Public Utilities Commission, Department of Food and Agriculture and the Energy Commission prepared a long-term plan for dealing with future plans.
The plan is titled “Making Water Conservation a California Way of Life, Implementing Executive Order B-37-16.”
It aims to make conservation a California way of life and follows the key objectives of the governor’s executive order: using water more wisely, eliminating water waste, strengthening local drought resilience, and improving agricultural water use efficiency and drought planning.
“This framework is about converting Californians’ response to the drought into an abiding ethic,” said California Department of Water Resources Acting Director Bill Croyle. “Technically, the drought is over, but this framework extends and expands our dry-year habits. Careful, sparing use of water from backyards to businesses and farm fields will help us endure the next inevitable drought.”
The plan requires urban water suppliers to meet new water use targets; bans wasteful practices, such as hosing sidewalks and watering lawns after rain; requires more agricultural water suppliers to submit plans that quantify measures to increase water use efficiency and develop adequate drought plans; requires monthly reporting by urban water suppliers on water usage, conservation achieved and enforcement efforts; and improved drought planning for small water suppliers and rural communities, among other requirements.
The plan involved extensive stakeholder outreach and engagement, with more than 20 public meetings held around the state.
The state said the agencies will continue to solicit stakeholder and public input in order to implement the plan’s key actions, some of which will require new legislation and expanded state authority, while others can be implemented under existing authorities.
The damage from the drought conditions that began in the winter of 2011-12 are expected to impact California for years to come, officials said.
Key impacts included the death of an estimated 100 million trees, diminished groundwater basins and disrupted drinking water supplies, the state reported.
In addition to the state’s efforts through the new drought plan, the Governor’s Office reported that state agencies will continue work to coordinate a statewide response on the unprecedented bark beetle outbreak in drought-stressed forests that has killed millions of trees.
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Governor ends drought state of emergency over most of state; new state drought plan unveiled
- Elizabeth Larson
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