The Bay Area is gearing up for a weekend of constant rainfall and with the Friday storm, the ground is getting the saturation it needs.
But experts warn this is still not nearly enough to get us over the hump, especially after they just announced it can’t help.
Crews spent the day cleaning up Friday and the good news is that rain totals were significant for the Bay Area, the bad news is that, “Unfortunately, the drought is not over. Although we welcome the precipitation, much more is needed,” said Aaron Baker of Valley Water.
Lexington Reservoir barely moved the needle this week, still at 34.5% of capacity.
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Valley Water is asking everyone to continue conserving -- using 15% less water than you did last year.
But with perhaps a fourth consecutive drought year looming, no one is ruling out an increase to those conservation numbers.
A hard ask for the Hadley’s, but they say they’ll do what it takes.
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“Our lawns are gone. I have a few trees dying,” said Cindy Hardley, of San Jose. “And I shifted my shower out one day. Well, sure I can probably find something else.”
And on Friday, a real gut punch from the state.
The California Department of Water Resources is only allocating 5% of requested supplies of imported water across the state. The normal amount is around 70%.
Meaning local agencies will have to scramble to find other water sources. Half of Santa Clara County’s water supply is imported, so now, Valley Water is dipping into emergency reserves.
“We’ve also been pulling water back from our ground water bank that we have down in various areas, to bring water back in emergency times,” said Baker.
Valley Water says every raindrop counts, so the agency is looking forward to the weekend storms, hoping the rain gods come through this winter.
