The drought is over. Water is not a consumable resource like coal or oil. There's a constant amount of it in a cycle from rain to streams and lakes and ground. We utilize (not consume) it, and it is returned to streams and rivers, to the ocean, and ultimately back to rain again.

Sometimes the cycle is erratic, like the drought we just had. The drought was not a long-term change, just a hundred-year event.

We did the right things, cutting back on usage to extend our reserves and get through it. Now the drought is over, our reserves are full and we can return to our former lifestyle. Sometime -- say, in the next decade or so -- Raleigh should run a line to Jordan Lake, either directly or via Cary, so we are prepared for an even greater drought.

But we don't need to continue with abbreviated showers. It's OK to take a little more water from the reservoir and put it back downstream without harming our downstream neighbors.