JANET ZIMMERMAN: Facing the third dry winter in a row, the state is activating a plan to transfer water supplies from Northern California to areas farther south, possibly staving off mandatory rationing, water officials said Tuesday. Consumers could get higher water bills as a result. This would be the first use of the state’s drought water bank since 1992, the end of six dry years that killed lawns and fish populations, drove down agricultural land value and forced severe rationing in some …