With the many recent storms and an above average rainfall saturating the state, lawmakers are calling for an end to Governor Brown’s drought restrictions on Californians.

We now see that with more rain and snow in the forecast that there are trillions of gallons of water rapidly flushing on to the ocean never to be harnessed again.

Senator Jim Nielsen recently stated in a release, “Californians dutifully conserved water during the drought. We took out our lawns and substituted drought tolerant plants. We took shorter showers. We used more efficient watering systems on our gardens and farms. Perhaps most painfully, we fallowed our land and sold off our livestock out-of-state.”

In a special report dated November 30th, 2016 from the Department of Water Resources titled “State Plan Seeks To Make Water Conservation A Way of Life” California Department of Water Resources Director Mark W. Cowin. said “Californians rose to the challenge during this historic drought and recognized that conservation is critical in the face of an uncertain future. This plan (The Governor’s Water Action Plan) is about harnessing the creativity and innovation that Californians have shown during the driest years in state history and making water conservation a way of life in the years ahead. This plan will help make permanent changes to water use so California is better prepared for whatever the future brings.”

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) manual snow survey recently reported “a snow water equivalence of 28.1 inches, a significant increase since the January 3 survey, when just 6 inches was found there. On average, the snowpack supplies about 30 percent of California’s water needs as it melts in the spring and early summer.

More telling than a survey at a single location, however, are DWR’s electronic readings from 101 stations scattered throughout the Sierra Nevada. Statewide, the snowpack holds 31 inches of water equivalent, or 173 percent of the February 2 average (18.1 inches). On January 1 before a series of January storms, the snow water equivalent (SWE) of the statewide snowpack was 6.5 inches, just 64 percent of the New Year’s Day average.”

The report concluded, “Measurements indicate the water content of the northern Sierra snowpack is 26 inches, 144 percent of the multi-decade average for the date. The central and southern Sierra readings are 32 inches (173 percent of average) and 32 inches (200 percent of average) respectively.”

In his published statement to Governor Brown, Senator Nielsen commented, “Californians are now more mindful and aware of the scarcity of our water. You asked us to do our part to save. We dutifully complied. In fact, conservation had become widely practiced, particularly in agriculture, even before this most recent devastating and prolonged drought. Californians have done their part. Let’s do our part and end the drought.”

“Perhaps we could use all that cement planned for a Bullet Train to Nowhere on new innovation and creating a few more storage facilities for the rainfall when we actually get it?” said no one.