Every decade or so when we get a huge rain season, you can tell who the newcomers are. They believe, reasonably enough, that all this rain is collected and stored so that L.A. will have plenty of water this summer and next summer and the one after that. They gape in disbelief when told that, no, last night's downpour is already polluting the Pacific. No matter how much it rains here, almost all the water Los Angeles drinks this year will come from 300 or more miles away. When there isn't enough snow there, we are in a "drought." (Not to worry, the snowpack this year is very generous.) Warren Olney will explain it all tonight at 7 p.m. on KCRW's Which Way, L.A.?.

Edited a bit for clarity