You are now in California and the U.S. category.

Much of Sacramento’s charm flows from the American and Sacramento rivers. Those rivers also are a threat. The weak El Niño and years of drought notwithstanding, Sacramento remains the most flood-prone U.S. city this side of New Orleans. For all the levee work that has been completed – $2 billion worth since 1990 – more is needed.

On Thursday, the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency Board of Directors will meet to consider calling again on property owners in the region’s flood-prone areas to vote to dig a little deeper.

Drought has been called a slow-moving natural disaster – unlike flood, fire and earthquake. Perhaps the only thing that moves slower is federal law and policy. Even so, with the California drought now in its fifth year, it must be asked: Where are the innovations in federal law that might have helped?

Politicians in Washington could have passed laws four years ago that would be yielding benefits today. These would be things like assistance with groundwater recharge, water conservation on farms, stormwater capture and wastewater recycling.

For the first time in five years, Northern California’s rivers are roaring and its reservoirs are filled almost to the brim.

But you’d hardly know it, based on how quiet it’s been at the two giant pumping stations at the south end of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The pumps deliver Sacramento Valley water to 19 million Southern Californians and millions of acres of farmland in the San Joaquin Valley.

Growing up in Massachusetts, “drought” was a word on a sign in the center of town that reminded us not wash our cars between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. That was the extent of our involvement in water conservation, so, upon arriving at UC Berkeley, I was bewildered by the lengths to which people went to save even a few drops. I once inquired about the bucket left in a friend’s shower — it was used to collect extra water. My incredulous “seriously?” was met not with laughter but with a stern lecture on the very real water shortage.