As to the author's contention that what we have experienced since 2012 is normal...well, that's just plain BS.
I was born and raised in this Valley and I can tell you it's not normal. And, the historical data does not support that contention.
I think the long term history does support that contention. The drought in CA comes and goes over time.
While 2015 was bad, the CA State Govt. figures now show that the Sierra reservoirs are now essentially back to their historic levels.
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action
You can also note that the population of CA has gone up 50% since the last major drought.
I remember that at the end of the 77/78 drought the Office of Drought Management simply changed it's name to Office of Flood Management...:^)
How then, genius, do you explain the great flood of 1860?
That happened before the network of dams and reservoirs were built to even out the dry years.
Which your 'Bugs and Bunny' buddies demolished a couple of decades ago.
Incidentally, the Ocean does not need the water to keep the fish alive. But the valley streams and rivers sure do; that's what the function of the dozens of dams no longer there was, to keep the streams flowing. Most of the junk fish and worms and reptiles and frogs etc., in the valley have died.
The dry spell started in 2012 through 2016 and that is about normal. But we’re not talking about heat we’re talking about water supply, most specifically supply of imported water from reservoirs (not groundwater). And that has been abnormal because planners were running a 2 million acre foot water storage deficit for the past few years.