SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown has lifted the drought emergency in most of California following one of the wettest winters in years.
The announcement Friday ends Brown's 2014 emergency declaration during California's driest four-year period on record. It led to the first conservation rules for the nation's most populated and agriculturally productive state, focused on turning off sprinklers and ripping out thirsty lawns.
The drought emergency remains in effect in the following counties: Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Tuolumne.
Monster storms this winter doused the Sierra Nevada with a record snowpack, a key California water source, and boosted reservoirs to normal levels.
Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Board, says the governor's move doesn't end water conservation in California.
Susan Atkins of the charity Self-Help Enterprises says the drought isn't over for hundreds of families with dry wells who still live on bottled water.
