Gregory Pierce: LA Times—California’s snowpack is approaching an all-time record, with more on the way

Gregory Pierce, co-director of the Luskin Center for Innovation at UCLA, said it probably makes sense to consider easing some of the most extreme restrictions, but that conservation efforts should continue indefinitely.

“This precipitation is great, and it does mean we can let up a little bit on some of the most radical things we were doing — and particularly we can breathe a little bit easier for communities that were literally running out of water or about to run out of water,” Pierce said. “But we also can’t let up at all when it comes to conservation, long-term measures and major investments in recycling, large-scale stormwater-to-groundwater capture and other technologies.”

“We bought ourselves some more time, so we don’t need to be in that hyper-emergency, but we’re always in a drought,” he added.