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In the world of California water, there is a saying about how our statewide system is supposed to work: “big gulp, little sip.”

The idea is to pump, move and store water from the mountains and snowpack when Mother Nature makes it available. But when it is dry, rivers run low and fish need the water, the pumps are turned way down. California’s water supply is reasonably generous — we are not an arid state. But it is exceedingly volatile, going from very wet to very dry year to year. This big-gulp strategy is designed with that in mind.

 

No, California’s drought isn’t over. But this week, the state came to terms with the fact that the series of El Niño-influenced storms has made a dent.

State officials say it’s far too early to declare the drought over — especially given that the rains seem to have focused on Northern California, while Southern California has seen comparatively little rain. But reservoir levels are rising, along with the snowpack. Both are key sources of water for the state.

El Niño has brought flooding since it has arrived in California this winter, but now those heavy rains may finally be doing something to help us. The snowpack is higher than it has been in years, and reservoir levels in San Diego County are looking better than they have in the last four years of drought.

 

San Vicente in Lakeside, our largest local reservoir, is over 61% capacity, while Lake Murray is at more than 89% and Lower Otay is over 84%. But some other reservoirs remain low, such as El Capitan at just under 28%,

Temperatures in some parts of the Southland reached higher than 80 degrees this week, and spring is officially here Sunday.

Federal forecasters have nary a drop of rain in their seven-day forecast for Los Angeles, and the two-week outlook by the federal Climate Prediction Center pegs Southern California for a 60 percent chance of above-normal temperatures through the end of the month and a 50 percent probability of lower-than-normal rainfall during that time.That could put us in April without more precipitation. This after February gave us the hottest month for high temperatures ever recorded.

After months of debate about whether rebates for water-saving measures are taxable, two members of Congress from California have introduced a bill that would clarify that they are not.

As part of a statewide push to manage the drought, Californians have received rebates from water districts for tearing out their lawns or installing water-saving devices. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California says it processed 37,000 turf rebates of $600 or more in 2015, and its member water agencies processed 26,000 other rebates.