Short-Term Good News About California's Water Supply

1/30/24: Oroville Reservoir is at 76% capacity

The recent storms have had a salutary effect on California's water picture:

Nearly all of California’s major reservoirs are holding more than 100% of their historic average water levels for this time of year after recent storms across the state gave several a boost.

Average total water storage across the state’s 48 biggest reservoirs has also been climbing upward since the beginning of the year, topping an 70% of capacity as of Thursday, according to state data. California’s reservoirs overall are holding 118% of their average levels of water for this time of year.

Reservoir levels are 118% of average, which is basically good news, but being at 70% of capacity is slightly worrisome at this point in the rainy season. [bold added]

Officials are carefully managing reservoirs, planning releases to ensure they do not overflow and cause floods while also maintaining enough water in case of another drought, according to the state water department.

The science of weather forecasting hasn't reached the stage where officials can predict confidently how much rain and snow will fall during the remainder of the wet season. Consequently the upcoming release of water from the reservoirs is educated guesswork.

The good news is that we won't have to let our gardens shrivel this summer. The bad news is that, because of the failure to build more storage capacity, we can't be confident about the following summer.