With storms sweeping through Northern California every few days, there’s a question on water-watchers’ lips: Is the drought over?

As with most things bearing monetary and political implications, it depends on who you ask.

So the best place to start is with the raw data.

According to the state’s Daily Reservoir Storage Summary, as of Thursday, many of our area’s largest water caches were holding their own when compared to their one-year averages.

Shasta, the grand Sacramento River reservoir, was ahead of its to-date season average at 102 percent. Friant Dam, which feeds plenty of San Joaquin Valley farmers, was at 97 percent of normal. The Tuolumne River’s Don Pedro was at 109 percent.

Others are lagging behind.

The Stanislaus River’s New Melones was at 86 percent of its to-date season average. New Hogan on the Calaveras River was at 71 percent. Oroville, the Feather River’s huge reservoir that plays an enormous role in Central Valley water distribution, is at 56 percent.

Either way, it’s too early to get overly excited about these figures. Even most of the reservoirs keeping pace with season averages are far short of being filled. As per usual this time of year, water managers are counting on melting snowpack to fill our reservoirs and help end California’s three-year dry spell.

As far as that goes, the state’s third snow survey of the year found the water content of the Sierra snowpack is at 107 percent of average.

Which means if you’re keeping score for just 2010, everything looks pretty good, so far. But when it comes to water in California, a snapshot of one year won’t tell you the complete story. Especially not this year.

The state’s been through three drier-than-average wet seasons. One year of “normal” rain and snowfall isn’t going to fully make up for that. (And, in this discussion, we’re completely leaving aside the state’s proven history of deranged water management.)

Plus, if Mother Nature turns off the spigot for March and April, those strong early season numbers will start looking weaker and weaker.

That hasn’t stopped some from declaring water users as out of the woods. Not surprisingly, those voices have a financial stake in doing so.

As soon as the numbers for the most recent snow report were in, plenty on the Central Valley’s West Side — especially those with junior water rights who were first to have their state- and federally subsidized water deliveries curtailed when conditions turned dry — were quick to proclaim the drought over.

There’s snow in the hills. There’s water in the reservoirs. There’s land that needs irrigating. So do the obvious and let that wet stuff flow!

Right?

Not so fast.

As noted before, by historical standards this year is hardly a “wet” one, and no one will be able to tell whether it was or not for another couple months. Plus, it’s not like we’re talking about an unbiased source of information when it comes to determining ecological events.

On the other side of the “drought over?” question, there’s political hay to grow, too.

The state’s Department of Water Resources declares on its “Environment” Web site in bold, colorful, impossible-to-miss fashion, “California’s drought: Preparing for year 4.”

Its analysis seems commonsense enough, that one year of rain won’t erase the severity of the previous dry years.

The catch is that state officials, led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, by and large want voters to pass a multibillion-dollar water bond this November that would, among other things, build more dams and create a peripheral canal that would divert water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

It’s harder to sell such a plan to voters if there’s no drought, especially considering the financial condition of California.

So even if this were one of the wettest years on record and drought conditions completely erased, smart money is that we’d still be hearing about “drought conditions.” At least from that corner.

Political gamesmanship aside, when divining the drought question, I find the answer is probably closer to the perspective of the state.

Not that I necessarily trust the source of the assessment or side with the motives that lurk under the surface, but because in California — a still-growing state with chronic water shortages and an outdated perspective on water — constant conservation should be the baseline, not the exception.

When the snow stops falling this spring and the reservoirs swell, it might very well turn out that 2010 was just the kind of water-soaked year we’ve been praying for. But it won’t be the end of our need to make smarter choices about how to use our water.

• Contact columnist and associate editor Jon Mendelson at jmendelson@tracypress.com.