Powerful Storms Do Little To Quench Bay Area Drought
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Even if the Bay Area got all the rain predicted for the week, it still wouldn't alleviate the record drought the region has been facing.
The Bay Area's complex water system taps reservoirs from around the state, as far away as Shasta Lake, and Hetch Hetchy. So even if it's raining in the South Bay, it may not have much of an effect on the drought situation.
Timothy Avila has been fishing at Lexington Reservoir for more than 20-years, and he is astounded when he sees the reservoir levels this year.
"I am shocked. I am actually quite frightened both for the fishing and the water situation," Avila told KPIX 5.
That reservoir is only at about 29-percent capacity, with the water level about forty-feet from the rim.
The water supply puzzle goes well beyond what people see locally.
"People see that reservoir and look at it as kind of a barometer. But what is happening in the snowpack? What is happening at the San Luis Reservoir..in the delta? All of those things affect our bottom line in terms of how much water we are going to be able to get," Marty Grimes of the Santa Clara Valley Water District said.
Major California reservoirs are far from full, with the San Luis Reservoir at just 42-percent of capacity, and Hetch Hetchy, which serves San Francisco, the Peninsula, and parts of the South and East Bay, at just 52-percent.
