That actually doesn’t make as much sense in Californias case because the water system is interconnected by the aqueduct system, and a lot of it is designed to get water to Central and Southern California. So there may be regions that are more or less robust in a given year, but the system is designed to account for that.

One interesting exception is lake Berryessa about 40 minutes west of Sacramento. It’s not connected to the rest of the system by law, and it’s something like the 7th biggest reservoir in the state. The area it provides water for it small relative to the size of the reservoir, and those farming communities basically never have water restrictions. And not coincidentally, there’s been a lot of investment into planting things like almond trees there in recent years.

Yes. Lake mead is not as full as the northern reservoirs.