You are now in San Diego County category.

The long-delayed and hotly contested Gregory Canyon Landfill doesn’t appear to be getting any closer to obtaining all of the permits still needed before construction of the dump south of state Route 76 near Pala could begin.

Work has yet to even begin on a permit needed from the county’s Air Pollution Control District because the new owners have yet to complete the necessary paperwork. Sovereign Capital Management Group, a San Diego-based private equity firm that took over the company last year, did however pay overdue fees last year with the intention of restarting the process.

Over a decade ago, Poseidon Water came to Orange County and began applying for permits to build a desalination plant in Huntington Beach to turn sea water into drinking water. The process stalled for years. The proposed plant would only produce about eight percent of Orange County’s water needs, would be nearly twice as expensive as other water, required a massive amount of energy and had numerous environmental impacts. To many decision-makers, it seemed like an option only worthy of consideration as a last resort; definitely not worth the billion-dollar plus price tag for ratepayers.

As water agencies throughout the state adjust to new rules regarding conservation, the State Water Resources Control Board this week issued figures for April indicating that Californians continued to cut water consumption.

Water use was reduced statewide by 26.1% compared with the same month in 2013, the year the state board set for comparison purposes.

The news came as Laguna Beach County and South Coast water, as well as districts throughout the state, are preparing to submit revised conservation targets to the board that prove they can supply their customers with enough water for the next three years, assuming drought conditions persist.

You still shouldn’t water the lawn too much, but the San Diego region will have enough water supply to meet demand for the next three years even if they’re dry, the County Water Authority reported Thursday.

The agency’s Board of Directors, after hearing the projections from staff, voted unanimously to take a regional approach to the state’s new process for certifying supply sufficiency for the Water Authority’s 24 member agencies, and to establish a long-term drought awareness initiative.

Remember those monstrous storms that bore down on Southern California this year courtesy of El Niño, and how they caused mudslides, mass flooding and general pandemonium on the freeways?

Neither do we.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has declared El Niño, the climate pattern that can bring powerful rains to the region, over – and after a rather anemic showing.

“We’re sticking a fork in this El Niño and calling it done,” NOAA said in a statement. “The king is dead!”