ALAMEDA (KRON) — The Bay Area got drenched from the latest round of El Nino-fueled storms, but was it enough to stop the four-year-long drought?
The sun is back, giving us a break from all that wet weather we’ve been getting. Rain totals are adding up, but we may not be in the clear just yet.
“One year of rain isn’t going to make up for 4 years of drought. We still have to allow the earth to absorb all this water, and then see how much is left for consumption,” East Bay Municipal District spokeswoman Nelsy Rodriguez said.
Next month’s snow survey will gauge how much run-off the snow will produce to refill the reservoirs that are currently at 60 percent capacity, and 77 percent of average.
“Then they’ll decide whether we’re still in an extreme stage 4 drought, or whether that can be lifted a little bit,” Rodriguez said.
It seems like there’s more than enough water falling from the sky these days, but people must continue to adhere to water restrictions the governor put in place and practice mindful water use.
The Battle family started taking advantage of a lawn conversion program a year ago that offers rebates for water usage.
“Every month, in our bill, there’s a graph that shows how much better we are than all of our neighbors,” Mike Battle said. “And that’s one of the best parts.”
It’s too early to say if the drought is over. The next snow survey will happen on April 1.
And we won’t find out until weeks later when calculations are done.