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In January, California’s Jerry Brown became the first governor in the state’s history to declare a state of emergency for a drought and a flood simultaneously. On Friday, Brown lifted the drought emergency in all but four counties (Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Tuolumne counties). But, rather than lift the burdensome water regulations implemented to cope with the drought, he announced that many of those regulations would remain intact, even though the flood emergency remains.

Fresno’s stringent one-day-a-week watering schedule will come to an end later this month. What replaces it – and whether Fresno residents will get to start watering their lawns two days a week or three – could be decided Thursday. Thomas Esqueda, the city’s public utilities director, will present a workshop for Fresno City Council members Thursday afternoon outlining Fresno’s success in meeting state water conservation goals and offering three possible options for outdoor irrigation starting May 1.

As Gov. Brown declared an official end to the California drought emergency last week, reservoir operators continued preparations to handle runoff of a Sierra Nevada snowpack that stood at roughly 170 percent of average at the start of the week. The governor’s order maintained water-reporting requirements and prohibitions on practices such as hosing off city sidewalks and irrigating ornamental turf on public street medians. It also ordered state agencies to continue requiring agricultural and urban water suppliers to “accelerate their data collection, improve water system management and prioritize capital projects to reduce water waste.”