California governor: Drought over, conservation must go on

FRESNO, Calif. — California Gov. Jerry Brown declared an end to the state’s drought emergency on Friday after powerful storms drenched the state following four extraordinarily dry years that drained reservoirs and wells, devastated forests and farmland and forced millions of people to slash their water use.

The turnaround has been stark. After years of brown fields and cracked earth, monster storms blanketed California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains this winter with deep snow that flows into the network of rivers and streams that supply much of the state’s water.

Front lawns revived to bright green in neighborhoods throughout the state and rivers that had become dry beds of sand and gravel now have water swelling up in their banks.

Still, lifting the order is a largely symbolic measure that doesn’t remove most of the restrictions. Officials insisted they’re holding onto some conservation rules for the 40 million residents of the nation’s most populous state.

California uses more water each year than nature makes available, and one wet winter won’t change the long-term outlook, environmentalists cautioned.

“Water may appear to be in abundance right now,” said Kate Poole, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “But even after this unusually wet season, there won’t be enough water to satisfy all the demands of agriculture, business and cities, without draining our rivers and groundwater basins below sustainable levels.”

At the drought’s peak, residents were urged to cut shower times and outdoor watering.

RICH PEDRONCELLI/AP Snow covers the Sierra Nevadas in the background of PG&E’s hydroelectric dam in Nevada County, Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday declared an end to California’s drought.