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The drought panic is over – at least that’s what one water agency is declaring. On Monday, the board of directors for water wholesaler Municipal Water District of Orange County voted unanimously to declare an end to emergency drought conditions in Orange County and requested the state do the same. The move comes days after another water agency, in San Diego, declared an end to drought conditions and asked the state to end emergency regulations.

 

State water managers poked rods into drifts as high as tree branches to measure the snowpack. They found far more snow than at the height of California’s more than five-year drought, when the measurement was done in almost-bare mountain meadows. “The winter storms across California are a welcome relief from five years of record low rainfall for Los Angeles, but Santa Monica’s groundwater, our major supply of water, has been impacted and can take years to rebound.

California’s rainy winter is already bearing fruit (er, flowers). The Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve has passed the minimum rain threshold of seven inches needed to trigger a massive poppy bloom. “We have reached the minimum amount of rain the poppies need, but there are many other factors that can still affect them such as late freezes or early heat waves,” the reserve posted to its website. “If all goes well, we expect the bloom to start in early to mid-March and last until mid-April or later.”

At first glance, it looks like a storage refrigerator you might see in somebody’s garage — and it runs just as quietly. But the GenCell G5rx is a hydrogen fuel cell generator that is part of a compact system using the latest technology to help companies like San Diego Gas & Electric reduce disruptions during power outages. “When the grid is off, this is on,” said Gil Shavit, chairman of GenCell, the company that has contracted to deliver more than two dozen G5rx systems to SDG&E.

The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors (SDCWA) declared on Jan. 26 an end to drought conditions in the region, citing heavy local rainfall and snow in western mountain areas. According to the Water Authority, precipitation at San Diego’s official reporting station at Lindbergh Field is 172 percent of average at this time. Statewide snow-water content is 193 percent of average, while the snowpack in the Colorado River Basin – where San Diego obtains some of its water – is also well above normal, the SDCWA reported.