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

A radical change in scope for the California WaterFix project has tunnels opponents calling for the state to scrap the permit approval and begin anew. In a memo dated Feb. 7, Karla Nemeth, director of the DWR, announced that WaterFix will be developed in two stages. The first stage will include a single tunnel and two intakes with a capacity of 6,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). The second phase will add another tunnel and a third intake expanding the capacity to 9,000 cfs.   

As California suffers through another dry winter, increasing fears that drought conditions may be returning, the state’s residents are dropping conservation habits that were developed during the last drought and steadily increasing their water use with each passing month. A new analysis of state water records by this news organization found California’s urban residents used 13.7 percent less water last year in the first eight months after Gov. Jerry Brown declared an end to the drought emergency than they used in the same eight-month period in 2013.

This may be great weather for weekend fun, but a continued lack of rainfall has state and federal officials worried about a return of drought conditions, after two wet winters. It hasn’t rained a drop here for more than a month, and none is forecast for the rest of the month. In Hollister, rainfall this winter is less than half the October-February average—about 4 inches since Oct. 1. In Gilroy and Morgan Hill, less than 4 inches of rain has been recorded since Oct.1, which is barely 25 percent of the normal rainfall for the South County.

We’re glad to see the state government is finally realizing Californians just aren’t going to save water merely because it’s the right thing to do. The signs of a dry winter have been piling up for months, and yet the statewide water saving rate has continued to decline. It’s been going that way since the Water Resources Control Board decided last spring to let the state’s water providers set their own conservation targets, and virtually all of them choose zero.

The driest December in California’s recorded history was followed by a relieving gush of rain in January, when it seemed there was a chance the state would be on track to receive at least its average level of precipitation. Now, shortly after a record-breaking midwinter heatwave and seemingly endless blue skies, general optimism is waning as February shapes up to be even drier than December, despite a soaking Los Angeles received on Monday.