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Ever since a series of winter storms began dumping rain and snow in Northern California last year, officials have been looking for tangible signs that all those storms were making a dent in the state’s four-year drought.

This week delivered some pretty powerful evidence. The latest storms over the weekend pushed California’s biggest reservoir past its historical average for mid-March and put the second-largest one at its historical average, officials said. The rising reservoirs, along with growing snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, are important because both are key sources of water for California.

California state law requires public records to be made promptly available, and allows 10 days to respond in certain siuations, plus another 14 for more limited circumstances. But in practice, the process can take a lot longer, U-T Watchdog found in a project to mark the nationwide open government event known as Sunshine Week.

Citing potentially higher costs that would be passed on to customers, Orange County’s largest provider of water to homes and businesses is intensifying its opposition to a key supplier’s plan to buy desalinated water from a proposed $1 billion Huntington Beach plant.

The storm had gathered power for days as it crossed the Northern Pacific, and now its outer band was uppercutting the coast. By the time Eric Batman arrived at work at 7 Monday morning, a hard west wind was driving rain and hail sideways against windows. Thunder reverberated across the L.A. Basin.

Batman reveled in El Niño’s long-overdue rumbling. His job, as senior civil engineer for the county Department of Public Works, is to keep as much rain as possible from escaping to the ocean.

In response to the recently launched Poseidon desalination plant in Carlsbad, state officials have agreed to dramatically ease water conservation goals in San Diego for almost all residential water users. The adjustments will nearly cut in half required water savings throughout the region, the San Diego County Water Authority announced Thursday.

Water managers have complained that state regulators failed to recognize their years-long effort to secure a more stable inventory of local water sources, including what is now the largest desalination facility of its kind in the United States.