The drought is not yet over, but this year’s wet and snowy storms have delivered enough water for California to ease residential restrictions, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced March 24.
Newsom signed an executive order Friday to stop asking residents to cut water use by 15 percent, a measure he first called for two years ago. Californians fell short of that, cutting back about 7.6 percent overall last June compared to the same month in 2020.
“Are we out of the drought? Is the drought over in the state of California?” Newsom said during a Friday morning press conference in Yolo County near Sacramento. “I want to affirm your instinct that it should be, it feels like it is. It is—and continues to be—complicated. And I know that’s disappointing for some because it would be nice to have a governor say the drought is over.”…