The storm provided a big boost to the water supply for at least one South Bay reservoir, but most of the them did not get as big a jump in capacity as expected.
Experts say that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The capacity at Vasona Reservoir jumped from 80 percent to 101 percent this week and was flowing over its spillway and into Los Gatos Creek on Tuesday.
Other reservoirs across Santa Clara County remained low, even after all the heavy rains.
Lexington Reservoir, just a few miles down the road from Vasona, remained around 26 percent capacity. But experts say the relatively low levels are a good thing.
"We’re still low, which is important because if we have continued rain through this period into February, we’re in good position to capture that water," said John Varela, board member for the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Varela said the water district won’t be forced to release millions of gallons of captured water as it did a year ago from Anderson Reservoir in Morgan Hill.
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The agency says one reason the reservoirs didn’t fill up more this week is because the storms basically just saturated the dry ground.
"We are much better this year in groundwater saturation than we were a year ago," Varela said.
The next round of rain might produce different results, with more water actually reaching the reservoirs.
The water district said there was no storm damage with the recent rains, perhaps because they spent a long time this summer clearing debris from creeks and rivers.
