California Reservoirs Topping Off, Quelling Drought Fears

A growing number of reservoirs in California have topped out water according to new reports on Friday, with state Department of Water Resources (DWR) officials having to release hundreds of billions of water through controlled releases since the beginning of the year.

Only two years ago, the state was facing a record-breaking drought. With a lack of rain falling and local urban and agricultural centers demanding more water after aquifer levels began dropping with over usage, reservoirs such as Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville began to see record lows. Pumping limits were implemented, many farms were cut off, and many reduction targets were put into place. Near the end of 2022, with the state under drought conditions, many scientists predicted that the drought would last years.

Then a wave of major storms hit the state in January and March of 2023. Reservoir and snowpack levels quickly grew, with reservoirs filling back up and snowpack levels going to over 250% of where they needed to be for the state to have adequate summer water. Last year, on the critical April 1st date, snowpack levels were measured at 237% with reservoirs being found to be near full brim, staving off drought conditions for 2023. For the first time since 2006, all water requests would be filled by the DWR. In November, the state became drought free for the first time since 2020. However, scientists again warned that this was a fluke year.

New reports show that the state is now all but certain to avoid drought in 2024. Recent storms have helped bring water levels in reservoirs to well over 100%, and precipitation levels a little over average. While snowpack levels were only around 77% on February 29th, storms throughout the state likely grew that percentage near 100%, with more storms likely this month only helping.

“California has seen several extreme climate events so far this water year, including record rainfall in Southern California,” said DWR state climatologist Dr. Michael Anderson at the beginning of the month. “While this pushed statewide precipitation above average, the snowpack still has not caught up from the dry conditions earlier this winter and local conditions still vary significantly from region to region. The upcoming storm will deliver more snow, but the critical month of March will have to deliver enough snowpack to make up for the dry fall and slow start to the year.”

With so much water going into reservoirs, huge releases have been approved in recent weeks. Lake Oroville, well over above average this year, has already seen massive spillway releases. Lake Shasta has been so full that 265 billion gallons were released from the lake last month alone.

DWR is continuing water releases from Lake Oroville using the main spillway and Hyatt Powerplant. Lake Oroville is at 861 feet elevation and storage is approximately 2.96 million acre-feet, which is 83 percent of its total capacity and 136 percent of the historical average. pic.twitter.com/CMEWjM3ayU

— CA – DWR (@CA_DWR) February 24, 2024

With more storms on the way and drought levels in the state still currently at 0% percent, California is now likely to avoid large scale droughts for the second year in a row, with the early March storms quelling concerns of officials for a drought.

“People have been concerned what climate change and shifting weather patterns would do to the state, but California has seen bigger winter storms in the last few years. It has brought blizzards and road closures and flooding to some areas, but it also saved farms, ended water concerns, and ended controversies such as deciding to bring more water to the people or protect certain species of fish,” explained Jack Wesley, a water systems consultant for farms and multi-family homes, to the Globe on Friday. “Right now, California is in decent shape.”

“We need to see what the snowpack levels are on April 1st and we need to measure where groundwater levels are at in the state to see what the storms have done there against usage. But in terms of water usage for people and farms, California is in a good position for the year yet again. This is not the one year anomaly many feared. We, if anything, need to figure out how to battle mudslides and flooding and other conditions now because of how much destruction we have seen through these weather events in the past few years.”

Snowpack levels are expected to be announced at the end of the month by the DWR.