A wetter fall has convinced California regulators to ease up on water restrictions for farmers and ranchers in the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta and its watersheds, says Reuters. A foot of rain fell on the northern half of the state in October, making it the second wettest on record in the northern Sierra Nevadas. The south remained dry.
Thanks to the precipitation, the state water board has decided not to require farmers or anyone else who maintains water rights (roughly 1,000 people total) in the Delta region to submit drought-related reports on water usage for the month of October. The state has made similar rulings in other parts of the state, suggesting that the worst of California’s historic drought is over.
In addition to extra rainfall, Californians increased their overall water conservation this September, halting a downward trend in water savings seen over the summer. But while residents used 18.3 percent less water in September 2016 than they did in 2013 (the benchmark year), environmentalists have pointed out that the savings were even better in September 2015, at 26.2 percent.
Advocates have expressed concern that the water board is relaxing regulations too soon, especially after the board “lifted mandatory conservation for the vast majority of California suppliers earlier this year,” says the LA Times.
“The state board has failed the people of California by letting water agencies off the hook for mandatory conservation,” Tracy Quinn, senior water policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told the Times. “That sent a very confusing message to residents, who are wrongly being told it’s OK to water their lawns or roll back the conservation efforts they’d implemented over the past few years.” Quinn called for permanent water conservation measures, rather than the current ad hoc approach.