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Spring Weather Means Delicate Balancing Act For Bay Area Water Officials

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - Hopefully, we've seen the last of the heavy rain for awhile, and now California state water managers have to decide what to do with all the water that makes up this year's massive snow pack.

After several years of drought, this year's extremely wet winter and spring are good news. That is unless there is now an extended heat wave, which could cause flooding.

KCBS' Susan Leigh Taylor Reports:

"We're working closely with a lot of the reservoir operators to make sure that they're managing the space that's needed in the reservoirs as that snow begins to melt," said Sue Sims, chief deputy director of the State Department of Water Resources.

She said it's a very delicate balancing act. They want the reservoirs to maintain some space, but officials also don't want to release water unnecessarily.

"We've been pretty lucky because the worst case scenario would have been all that snow followed by very hot weather week after week," said Sims. "The fact that we've had cooler temperatures actually is helping the snow melt a little bit slower, which is giving up some breathing room."

Sims said that it's important to keep good water conservation habits even though the state is currently at a surplus because the population is growing all the time.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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