Long term drought impacts continued to decrease through the month of March, with a number of rain and mountain snow events. While the month ended up being average for precipitation, this combined with the wet pattern which began in the Fall and continued through the winter months to produce a large snowpack and to fill reservoirs. At the end of March, Lake Shasta was 109% of normal, Lake Oroville was 99%, Folsom Lake was 94%, and Don Pedro was 119%. New Melones Reservoir improved significantly and was at 120% of normal.
The U.S. Drought Monitor showed all of interior Northern California in the 'None' category by the end of March.
Groundwater aquifers continued to recharge more slowly than the surface reservoirs, though the DWR Water Data Library showed strong signs of improvement in many areas.
Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California January 17, 2014 and this continued to be in effect. Governor Brown issued an executive order on May 9, 2016 that built on temporary statewide emergency water restrictions to establish longer-term water conservation measures, including permanent monthly water use reporting, new permanent water use standards in California communities and banned clearly wasteful practices such as hosing off sidewalks, driveways and other hardscapes.
Local emergency proclamations remain for Colusa, Calaveras, El Dorado, Glenn, San Joaquin, Shasta, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties. Plumas County no longer had a Local Emergency Proclamation. The cities of Live Oak (Sutter County), Lodi (San Joaquin County), Manteca (San Joaquin County), Portola (Plumas County), Ripon (San Joaquin County), and West Sacramento (Yolo County) continued to have local emergency proclamations . Drought task forces remain in Lake, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tuolumne, and Yolo counties to coordinate response to the drought.
The threat of dead or dying trees continued, with on-going tree-removal programs at the state and federal level.
The state continued to supply food assistance to those impacted by the drought, along with California Disaster Assistance Act money for those who have lost drinking water due to dry wells.

Drought in NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 01-MAR-17 00:00:00 to 31-MAR-17 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: State Official

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells. In March there were 314 in Stanislaus County, unchanged since February. There were 8 in San Joaquin County, unchanged from February. Many rural communities in the Northern San Joaquin Valley were still receiving food assistance as a direct result of the drought.

Drought in MOTHERLODE/CAMPTONVILLE TO GROVELAND, CALIFORNIA
From 01-MAR-17 00:00:00 to 31-MAR-17 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: State Official

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were homes without well water due to dry wells. In March there were 240 dry wells in Tuolumne County, unchanged since February. Emergency drinking water projects continued to help communities address diminished groundwater supplies.