Officials insisted they're holding onto some conservation rules for the 40 million residents of the nation's most populous state. Brown declared the emergency in 2014, and officials later ordered mandatory conservation for the first time in state history. Even now, the governor has kept the drought emergency in place for four counties, most of them at the state's farming heartland, where emergency drinking water projects will continue to help address diminished groundwater supplies. Water conservation will become a way of life in the state, said Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of the State Water Resources Control Board, who led conservation planning. Even Brown was circumspect in his dramatic announcement: "This drought emergency is over, but the next drought could be around the corner."

Source: ABC News April 07, 2017 17:45 UTC