California governor declares end to drought emergency.
One of the worst droughts in California history has officially ended, Governor Jerry Brown declared, but not before it strained the state’s farm economy and threatened water supplies for millions of residents.
Govenor Brown’s announcement on Friday covered the bulk of the state, leaving only the counties of Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Toulomne under restriction.
inRead invented by Teads The emergency declaration allowed the state to cut water usage.
It is estimated that urban water consumption was reduced by up to 25 percent, as people were made aware of the need to treat water as a resource and to keep its use to a minimum.
Hosing down driveways and the watering of gardens during or immediately after rainfall were banned.
At a municipal level, more permanent changes included stripping out lawns and replacing them with more drought-tolerant plants, and introducing more efficient sprinkler systems.
As a result of the drought, up to 100 million trees have died.
The ending of the drought coincided with the annual snow survey which monitors the depth of the snow pack in the Sierra Nevada mountain range which supply up to 30 percent of California’s water.
The conservation of water is likely to remain an issue for the state, despite the lifting of the current emergency.