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

While on his three-day trip to Cuba, President Obama released an action plan on Monday to help the federal government proactively deal with drought, which affects one-eighth of the continental US population, mostly in the West.

In a memorandum and accompanying action plan, Mr. Obama’s administration outlined his goals for the federal government to help the country prevent and cope with drought, which scientists expect will worsen with changing climate conditions.

Occupants of 11,000 new single-family houses under construction near Tracy will be able to recycle their shower, bath, laundry and sink water on site using a system designed by Australian water engineers, one of dozens of new water technologies the White House will showcase at its big “water summit” Tuesday.

Hoping to leapfrog a Congress still trying to wring more water out of California’s over-drafted rivers, the Obama administration wants to replicate for water the push it made on solar power nearly eight years ago to jump start new technologies and coordinate the federal response to droughts.

For years now, Gov. Jerry Brown has been telling us that he will save the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta – the greatest freshwater estuary on this side of the continent – by taking water out of it.

Environmental scientists have hustled out to make his case. Wildlife experts have joined the “Oyez” chorus. And state water managers insist it is our only option. Among the biggest and most enthusiastic backers is the largest irrigation district in the world, Westlands Water District, and the largest urban water supplier in the world, Metropolitan Water District.

The National Weather Service distributed a remarkable photo the other day – a satellite view of California showing just how green it has become after heavy winter rains.

The occasion was St. Patrick’s Day, but the photo’s true meaning was the vernal equinox’s age-old promise of renewal. California is green again, except for its deserts and its snow-covered mountains, and its reservoirs are, for the first time in years, holding healthy amounts of water – so much, in fact, that releases are being increased to make room for melting snow.