March 29, 2024
‘Water year’ starts with holdover surplus
SAN BERNARDINO – (INT) - Local water basins are filled with record-breaking amounts of snowmelt, rainfall and imported water.

With the October 1st opening of another ‘water year’, stored water is in amounts not seen since 1987, the San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District.

SBVWCD General Manager Daniel Cozad attributes the success of this water year to a very wet winter and the establishment in 2018 of a group of local cities and water agencies, known as the Groundwater Council, contributing their fair share of imported State Project water for local storage.

The water stored so far this year is enough to serve 210,000 families for an entire year, Cozad said, but it is being saved to help make up for significant overdrafts in the past.

“The significant rainfall and snowpack made for a great water year in 2019, so we start the new year in a good place,” said Department of Water Resources (DWR) Director Karla Nemeth. “However, we all know too well that California’s weather and precipitation is highly variable. What we could have today could be gone tomorrow.”

Water Year 2019 highlights include:
• There were more than 30 atmospheric rivers with many making landfall in northern California.
• The state’s snowpack on April 1 was 175 percent of average.
• Statewide reservoir storage is 128 percent of average through the end of September which is approximately 29.7 million acre-feet.
Story Date: October 8, 2019
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