Some Improvement For CA Reservoirs, But Federal CV Reservoirs At 49% Of Historic Averages

[hatrack]

The recent onslaught of El Niño storms only slightly increased the levels of California reservoirs that stand at half of historic depths for this time of year, federal officials said on Friday while releasing an initial water outlook for 2016.

Heavy rainfall has soaked into a landscape that has been parched by four years of drought, and the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada has grown but hasn’t started to melt off and replenish the critically low reservoirs, US Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Shane Hunt said. “It’s going to take a lot more,” he said.

The bureau’s outlook comes as federal water managers prepare to announce how much water will be available for Central Valley farmers this summer. The federally operated reservoirs that supply farms and cities throughout California’s Central Valley are now 49% full, compared with 47% on 1 October.

Lake Shasta – the state’s largest reservoir, located in northern California – is at 68%, but San Luis Reservoir in Central California is at 20% of its historical average, the bureau reports.

EDIT

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/22/el-nino-rain-california-drought-reservoir-levels-low?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco

[OnlinePoker]

1. Here's a link to the reservoir levels

It says Shasta is at 64% of historic average and San Luis is at 40% so I'm not sure where The Guardian is getting their figures from. Almost all of the reservoirs in California are below where they were at this point last year, but at least there is a snow pack to replenish them somewhat this year.

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/reservoirs/RES