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

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.

On Thursday, Contra Costa County, the Planning and Conservation League and Food and Water Watch, as well as two other Delta local agencies, Central Delta Water Agency and San Joaquin County announced they will file a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Met) over their plan to purchase several islands in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary.

On March 14, 2016, Metropolitan Water District had filed a Notice of Exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act for the purchase of the Delta islands, claiming the purchase was for Delta habitat restoration purposes.

This week was generally uneventful in those parts of the country experiencing abnormal dryness and drought, with only a few patchy areas received 1 to 3 inches of precipitation. As a result, dryness and drought either remained unchanged or deteriorated where it existed.

In what may be an ominous sign for the end of the drought, the El Niño that brought Northern California its wettest winter in five years is continuing to weaken and appears to be giving way to its atmospheric sibling — La Niña.

El Niño has doused northern California, but farmers in the state’s Central Valley won’t see much benefit. The Obama Administration is again indulging its progressive friends at the expense of low-income communities.