Weather & Science
California Downpours Mean More Water for 27 Million Residents
- State will boost deliveries to 29 public water agencies
- Recent storms helped make ‘significant dent’ in the drought
Nicasio Reservoir in Nicasio, Calif., on Jan. 12.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
California will be able to increase the amount of water it delivers to 27 million residents after a series of recent storms that brought record rains and helped replenish drought-parched reservoirs.
The state will boost its deliveries to 29 public water agencies, the California Department of Water Resources said Thursday in a statement. That will mean supplying 30% of the requested water, up from an initial plan of 5% set on Dec. 1. The state’s two biggest reservoirs alone collected enough water to serve 5.6 million households from a series of atmospheric rivers that brought deluges from late December to early January.