By Angela Johnston, KALW/Crosscurrents
The California drought is now in its fifth year, and a recent study says it won’t be over for years to come.The study analyzed California’s mountain snowpack and found that we would need almost four-and-a-half more years of winter storms to escape drought conditions. But just few months ago, after a not-so-impressive El Niño winter season, California’s State Water Resources Control Board ended a year of mandatory water restrictions that had required urban residents to cut their consumption by 25 percent statewide. Although some think it’s too soon to ease up on the general public’s use of water, the state is taking a different route.
“A lot of the impacts of the drought aren’t necessarily seen in our coastal cities in L.A., in San Francisco, San Diego but they are there,” said Max Gomberg, the climate and conservation manager for the State Water Resources board. Gomberg said that despite the drought’s persistence, things have improved: this past winter’s rains and successful conservation efforts by urban Californians meant it was time to ditch the top-down mandatory restrictions.
Read the complete story at KALW/Crosscurrents.
