For example, Bisnett says, “Shasta Reservoir is at 74 percent of capacity.” Another way to look at it, she explained is that “it’s at 102 percent of average full."
Are we in a drought?
“It looks like we are in for a dry year, and that could easily become a drought,” he explained.
"We’ve had rebound of some fish this year from the last wet water year we had, but the Delta smelt didn’t come back.
Swain also points out that for some parts of Southern California the drought never ended, including where the Thomas Fire burned in last year.
Where are we starting from this year?
But Lund says some of the groundwater has recovered from the previous drought.
Still he admits that over pumping could get worse, because if rain and snow doesn’t fall then farms and cities will need to draw more groundwater.
Because of that, he says Southern California is still under significant fire activity.
— Don Fischer (@djdogfish) February 6, 2018 All experts echoed a common theme: This is California, and we should always have some pressure to increase our water conservation.