The rain that's fallen in fulsome fits and spattering starts this spring has punched enough of a dent in the drought that state officials now say just three towns and rural areas are in danger of running out of water - a sharp dip from the 17 that were facing Dust Bowl disaster in January.
Leaders of several of the Northern and Central California communities that have fended off the tumbleweeds credit more than the rain that finally started falling in February - their residents also met or exceeded mandatory rationing limits, helping reservoirs stay above the zero line.
But they say they're keeping a keen eye on conservation, given that the drought is still severe.
One town that fell off the state's list of the desiccation-endangered was the pretty Sonoma County burg of Cloverdale. Its 8,600 residents have slashed water usage so much since January that its leaders are confident the town will ride out the dry months even without a last-minute influx into its main water source, the Russian River.
The City Council imposed a mandatory 25 percent water conservation order in January, and is keeping it in place even though it learned this week that Cloverdale's users reduced usage by a whopping 40 percent since last spring.
'Doing quite well'
"We're doing quite well, between our conservation measures and fixing whatever leaks we could find," said Mayor Carol Russell, who has been handing out low-flow shower heads and egg timers to residents as drought-busting tools. The timers are to help make sure showers last no more than three minutes.
"We are a city of people who really pay attention to what's going on around them and who are sensitive to things like water," Russell said. "We don't just expect to turn on the tap and have water come out every time."
Two new groundwater wells being partly funded by a local brewery are due to begin adding to the town's water supply this summer, but "we are still going to come up with new - or maybe we should just say underscored - ways for people to conserve," the mayor said.
Like the latest list, the January roll call of 17 communities and water districts in danger of running out of water within 100 days was compiled by the state Department of Public Health. The endangered places initially ranged from Camp Condor in Kern County to Willits in Mendocino County.
In the department's update posted this week, the only two left on the list were Redwood Valley County Water District in Mendocino County and Whispering Pines Apartments in Mariposa County. A new entry, the city of Montague in Siskiyou County, brought the total on the endangered list to three.
The recent rains have also allowed state and federal water officials to slightly increase their expected deliveries from California's giant water projects to cities and farms.
"We've captured enough runoff in reservoirs that we can supply a minimal amount of water," said Ted Thomas, spokesman for the state Department of Water Resources, which manages the California State Water Project. The state project, whose water serves 25 million Californians, raised its projected allocation for customers last week from zero to 5 percent of what was requested.
Drought has worsened
Water supplies in the state and federal networks of reservoirs and canals, though, remain extremely low, and the projected deliveries are slight by historical standards. The National Climatic Data Center reported this week that California's drought has only worsened, and that for the first time in 15 years all of the state is considered to be in a moderate to exceptional state of drought.
Few communities feel that pinch more than Montague, population 1,400.
Officials said this month that Lake Shastina, the town's main water source, held only 8,400 acre-feet of water - about a quarter of the usual amount for this time of year - and termed the shortage the worst in 80 years.
"If something doesn't happen by August, we'll be out of water," said Chris Tyhurst, the city's water treatment plant supervisor.
State and local officials have embarked on an ambitious plan to build a 3-mile pipeline to carry water from the Shasta River to Montague. It's a project that city leaders say would normally take three years. They're hoping to finish in two months.
"If we can do that, we'll have water at the end of the summer," Tyhurst said. "If we don't, we'll be trucking it in."
In the meantime, city officials said they would turn off park sprinklers and asked residents to halt all outside watering, from washing cars to irrigating gardens.
The picture is far damper near the North Coast in Willits, a pit stop on Highway 101 that's also the terminus of the Skunk Train tourist line from Fort Bragg.
"That was a fabulous February and a miracle March, and our reservoirs are now full," said Mayor Holly Madrigal, whose 5,000-population town's two tiny reservoirs were nearly empty at the end of January. "We're really excited that we've bounced back and are off that list."
Restriction lifted
Willits water users were under a mandatory restriction limiting a family of four to 150 gallons a day, but that was lifted this week. Now everyone is asked to voluntarily reduce their water use by 25 percent. The town is also looking into tapping into groundwater supplies so it will be better positioned for future emergencies, Madrigal said.
"We still have to be very careful and make sure we preserve enough water for the fire season," she said, "which could be very bad this year because of the drought."
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