Drought Is Over, Wilson Declares : Water: The six-year dry spell may change forever Californians’ attitude toward conservation. The Sierra snowpack is at its highest level in a decade.

After six years of one of the most severe dry spells in state history, Gov. Pete Wilson declared an end to the drought Wednesday, officially closing the book on a natural disaster that may forever change the way Californians think about water.

“Thanks to God for ending the drought,” Wilson said, “and thanks to the people of California for enduring it.”

The announcement in Sacramento ended a monthlong dance by state water officials, who had insisted that it was too early to pronounce the drought over despite a string of positive rainfall and snowpack reports and official projections of an abundant runoff this spring.

Los Angeles and other cities proclaimed weeks ago that the dry spell had been broken, but Wilson’s pronouncement--coming during a respite in a succession of tenacious storms that have pelted the state--provided the state’s official acknowledgment of what has become obvious to soggy residents from San Diego to Eureka.

“It may not come as a surprise to most people,” acknowledged an official in the state Drought Information Center.

The turning point for hesitant state water officials came last weekend, when big storms in the Sierra Nevada raised snowfall totals to their highest levels in a decade. Automated sensors recorded the water content of the Sierra snowpack, a key indicator of water supplies, at 175% of the historical average for February.

Reservoir levels topped 80% of what is considered normal for this time of the year, a remarkable improvement considering that many reservoirs had been drained dry over the past several years and that water experts had predicted it would take at least two years to refill them. Wilson predicted that the reservoirs would reach 90% of normal after the spring thaw.

“We are delighted,” said Maurice Roos, the state’s chief hydrologist, who has spent the better part of the last six years compiling data on the drought. “It is always nicer to bear good news rather than bad news.”

For many residents, the drought became real three years into the dry spell when water-starved cities began imposing mandatory conservation measures for the first time since the drought of 1976-1977. The city of Los Angeles abandoned its restrictions last year, but other water agencies, including those serving San Francisco and San Jose, are only now considering a shift to voluntary conservation.

The conservation issue has loomed over the water picture ever since late last year, when a series of rainstorms and snowstorms invited speculation that the drought’s days could be numbered. Water officials across the state feared that any formal indication that supplies were once again abundant would lead to a wholesale abandonment of hard-won conservation efforts.

In refusing to declare the drought over earlier, officials openly acknowledged their reluctance to open the floodgates to excessive water use. Some even hinted that they might never declare the drought over because a so-called regulatory drought--reduced water supplies caused by court rulings and new environmental restrictions on deliveries--had picked up where the hydrological drought ended.

But many both inside and outside the state water bureaucracy dismissed such skepticism as a fundamental misreading of public attitudes, insisting that years of five-minute showers and yellowed back yards had permanently altered Californians’ patterns of water use. For the first time, millions of residents came to appreciate the fragility of urban water sources and the need to make do with less.

“We are hearing from the public, ‘Trust us, we have learned. Let us show you,’ ” said Elizabeth Ahrens, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Water District, which is considering dropping mandatory 15% conservation.

Jerry Gewe, water resources manager for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said city residents continue to conserve 15% to 20% of water nearly a year after the city ended its mandatory rationing program.

Like elsewhere, however, Los Angeles continues for now to enforce drought-inspired water regulations, including prohibitions against hosing driveways and sidewalks and against watering lawns during the day. Last summer, the city reinstituted its “drought buster” program, hiring four enforcement officers to crack down on violators--most of whom are turned in by neighbors.

“There is a new awareness out there, no doubt about it,” Gewe said. “If you asked someone in 1986 where your water comes from, they would probably say from the pipes. Today I can’t go anywhere without people asking about our delivery system, and the types of questions show a much broader understanding.”

Even so, the state’s continued concern about conservation was demonstrated Wednesday when Wilson opened his news conference by posting a new sign over the state’s drought center at the Department of Water Resources. The center’s name was officially changed to the State Water Conservation Center, although the fate of its three full-time employees was unclear.

“The end of rationing should not mean the end of conservation,” Wilson said. “It is and should be part of the ongoing environmental ethic on the part of all Californians to conserve water and not waste it.”

Academic and industry experts are still trying to assess the economic impact of the prolonged water shortage, with estimates placing job losses in the thousands and economic losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Most experts, however, have concluded that early predictions of widespread gloom and doom were overstated.

“Californians managed the drought very well, all things considered,” said Richard E. Hewitt, a professor of agricultural economics at UC Davis.

Even with that, some studies put agricultural losses as high as $250 million a year, and foresters estimate that insect infestation caused by the lack of water in the Sierra killed enough trees to build 1.8 million houses. The environment was hit hardest by far, with fishery experts blaming trickling water flows for the near-devastation of the state’s salmon population and the degradation of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Times staff writer Virginia Ellis in Sacramento contributed to this story.

L.A. Rainfall

Here is a look at rainfall totals at Civic Center through the drought.

Precipitation in inches, July 1-June 30

‘93 total to date: 23.6

Even without a drought, it is against the law in Los Angeles and many other cities to:

* Hose down the sidewalk or driveway.

* Water the lawn during the middle of the day.

* Serve water at a restaurant unless requested.

* Operate a non-recirculating fountain.

* Allow water from sprinklers to drain into the gutter.

* Fail to repair water leaks.

Source: L.A. Department of Water and Power