Rain that battered region created ample runoff for
reservoirs
While commuters and holiday shoppers weren’t happy to see the
recent rains that that dumped water over the region, officials from
the Santa Clara County Water District were thrilled with the
downpours.
Rain that battered region created ample runoff for reservoirs
While commuters and holiday shoppers weren’t happy to see the recent rains that that dumped water over the region, officials from the Santa Clara County Water District were thrilled with the downpours.
“This has been a perfect storm season so far,” said Santa Clara County Water District Spokesman Mike Di Marco. “Only one month ago, Lake Anderson was at one-quarter of capacity. Today, it’s at about a half and some others are quite high, actually.”
Last summer, Lake Anderson was closed a month early as water levels on the largest reservoir in the county reached a dangerously low level for boaters.
But so far this winter, Anderson has rebounded significantly from its late summer levels.
“We need this type of season in order for the rain to end up in our reservoirs,” said Di Marco. “It’s ideal because we’ve had a significant amount without much flooding. Last year, most of our rain came in December and January, but none of it was enough to run into the reservoirs.”
Currently, all of the South County reservoirs are rebounding from their October lows. Uvas Reservoir is now at 84 percent capacity, Calero is at 68 percent, Coyote is at 51 percent, Chesbro Reservoir is at 49.5 percent, and Anderson is at 35.5 percent.
While the number is still low at Anderson, officials say that it’s not cause for alarm.
“It’s not real bad. If this was March, yes,” said Di Marco. “But we’re just entering the rainy season.”
Di Marco also pointed out that Anderson is so big that it takes a tremendous amount of water to fill. Currently, the bottom of the reservoir is at 562 feet and the spillway at the dam is 625 feet. Lake Anderson is bigger than the other nine county reservoirs combined.
So far South County rainfall is at 123 percent of normal for this time of year. Thankfully, the area’s rain gauges are producing numbers that are needed to sustain the areas high demands.
The City of Morgan Hill has received 10.81 inches of rain this season. The rain gauge for San Martin is showing 10.55 inches and two gauges in the Gilroy area are reading 6.22 inches near Gavilan College and 8.94 out by Coyote Reservoir.
“Those aren’t bad readings for Gilroy either,” said Di Marco. “Those gauges are in very sheltered areas.”
The rainy season goes from July 1 to June 30. Normal annual rainfall rates for the South County area are 19.31 inches. So far, even the lowest readings at any of the gauges in the area have marks that are hovering at 40 percent or higher.
The reason for the impressive readings is that the region is experiencing a moderate El Niño year.
“What an El Niño does is bring above average totals in the south and less than normal totals in the north. Since we’re right in the middle, it’s tough to tell how much rainfall we will get this year. But so far, we like what we see,” said Di Marco.
During the last El Niño year 1997-98, southern Santa Clara County picked up 28.78 inches of rain. In contrast, during the drought years of 1986-92, the area averaged about 10 inches of rain annually.
“Right now, it doesn’t look like we’re going to have to save the bath water. I’ll put it that way,” said Di Marco.
