SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – In addition to rain, the storm brought flooding, mudslides, and downed trees, but did it move the needle on the drought here in the Bay Area?
Several days with record levels of rain across the Bay Area. One can’t help but wonder if the storm had any impact on the current drought conditions?
The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir which accounts for 85% of San Francisco’s water supply is at 65% of maximum storage which is up from 62% last week.
“This was a very intense storm event and we did see a difference,” Tracie Morales said.
East Bay Municipal District spokesperson Tracie Morales describes the storm’s impact on the Mokelumne Basin in the Sierra Nevada where EBMUD generates most of its water supply, receiving about 8 inches of rain in the past 8 days.
“This is pretty significant. This is about 1/3 of all of the precipitation that was generated all of last year. Here locally we generated about 7 inches of rain which is nearly all of the precipitation that was generated all of last year,” Morales said.
However, the EBMUD system is currently around half 56% of its normal average of 78% for this time of year.
The same trend can be seen in a Marin Water District graphic, which shows total storage capacity at 43% of an average of 67% around this time in October.
The drought conditions are even more severe in the Santa Clara Valley Water District where the storm only generated an increase in capacity of 1%.
“We were around 10.5%, which means about 88.5% empty and now we have gone up a percent. One rainstorm that only helped less than 1% on capacity does not end a drought,” Gary Kremen, with the Board of Directors in Santa Clara Valley Water District, said.
So, Bay Area residents are asked to continue to conserve water.
“That means pulling back on water use wherever you can,” Morales said.