Loch Lomond Reservoir at 85% capacity after a dry start to 2022
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) The end of 2021 brought hope for drought-stricken Californians — but with a dry start to the new year, and no rain in the forecast, benefits from last year's rain seem to be diminishing.
It's been almost two months since December's atmospheric river hit the Central Coast, bringing hope that water restrictions could be eased. Santa Cruz has received more than 18 inches of rain so far this water year.
"We're ahead of normal still for this water year in terms of precip.," said Rosemary Menard, Water Director for the City of Santa Cruz. "It's come in different patterns than what we saw historically, when we would pretty much have rain consistently at some modest level over a period of time. Now what we're seeing are these big storm events that are compressed into a couple of weeks or even a few days. So the key when you have that kind of variability and you're not sure if it's going to rain for weeks on end is to have adequate storage."
That adequate storage for Santa Cruz County comes from the Loch Lomond Reservoir. The only reservoir in the county is at about 85% capacity after last year's storms.
"We are pumping water from the San Lorenzo River up to the reservoir as we speak. We put about 100 million gallons in since probably the beginning of the year, which is really good," said Menard.
As for the snowpack — the Sierra Nevada Mountains got a dumping of more than 17 feet of snow in late December. But after a dry January, the California Department of Water Resources says the snowpack has returned to 82% of average levels.
Santa Cruz is still optimistic that they could start easing some water restrictions, but that decision will come later in March.
"We do an annual outlook that will be reported to the City Council and to the Water Commission in early April. But we're watching things very closely this month and next month to inform that decision. It's looking fairly good right now, but you know, things could change," said Menard.
