Is drought officially over?

Sonoma Valley Sun 13 January 2015: Not only have there finally been several days of rain recently, courtesy of El Nino, global warming and self-radicalized meteorologists, but judging by the pronouncements, actions and inactions of public officials, the drought has been Officially Over for some time.

One sign was the official ho-hum response to data showing that state residents saved less water in October than they did the previous year. No alarm from any government corner office, no hectoring from the governor and no kneecapping fines levied on anyone hereabouts, despite having been repeatedly threatened.

Locally, water-saving data has always been decidedly mixed, if not stirred and cooked. For example, we are told the City of Sonoma saved 30% more water than it did two years ago, but still uses more water per capita than other areas of the...read on.