Four year drought conditions lessen

San Jose Mercury News/Paul Rogers, 3/13/16. "California's biggest reservoir, Shasta, rises to key milestone."

Rain is for the birds, ending with a rainbow for all of us.

.... Shasta Lake, the largest reservoir in California and a critical source of water for Central Valley farms and cities from the Bay Area to Bakersfield, reached 100 percent of its historic average Sunday as billions of gallons continued to pour in from drenching downpours.

The 21-mile-long reservoir, north of Redding, holds enough water when full for the needs of 23 million people for a year.

....  ...   The largest reservoir that serves the 1.4 million customers of the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Pardee, in the Sierra Nevada's Mokelumne watershed, hit 89 percent full -- 103 percent of average. 

.... What effect that will have on summer water restrictions statewide is still unclear. The State Water Resources Control Board has said it will meet in mid-April to decide how much to relax the mandatory water targets that last summer forced nearly every urban area in the state to impose water rationing and other restrictions.   Read article.

Note photograph:  rainbow and seagull by Chris Stone from San Diego Times/Jenne Wein, 3/7/16, "Rainbows reward sky-watchers as storm brings rain, snow."

Posted by Kathy Meeh