Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

By the last day in February, Lexington Reservoir was brimming with water.

Rainy February fills parched Lexington Reservoir

By Nathan R. Huff

Mother nature spoiled rotten local water management this past February, dropping as much as 18 inches of rain into Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) and San Jose Water Company (SJWC) reservoirs.

The soaking wet February, which set a San Francisco record for days of rain in the month, has raised the West Valley's rainfall totals above the seasonal average and assuaged any immediate drought fears.

Lexington Reservoir, which the SCVWD uses to recharge its underground aquifers, is at 92 percent of its capacity. Looking out over the reservoir, one can hardly believe just a month ago the reservoir level was below 25 percent. A number of trees now appear to be growing directly out of the reservoir.

"We're in good shape," SCVWD spokesman Mike DiMarco said. "We're at 112 percent of the season average [to date]." As of Feb. 29, the Los Gatos area had received 38 inches of rain, just seven inches short of the total season average.

"Los Gatos Creek is rushing as well," DiMarco said, "and that bodes well for the steelhead trout and chinook salmon, both endangered species."


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

In this Jan. 5, 2000, photograph, a San Jose Water Co. supervisor climbed the parched embankment that should have been the reservoir floor.




The water level at Lexington would be even higher, but the district released water in late January to allow SJWC to make repairs on a pipe running alongside and under the reservoir. It was the second repair in the last year that SJWC has made on the pipe, which carries water down from the company's Lake Elsman Reservoir.

A rain-swollen creek washed out a section of the pipe, which traverses a small gully on the edge of Lexington. "In order to make repairs," SJWC spokesman Andrew Gere said, "the district helped us out by releasing some water and lowering the lake level enough for us to make repairs." SJWC built a steel frame to support the pipe, completing the repairs Feb. 6.

Washed-out pipe aside, Gere said, the water company has experienced a "fabulous" winter. "We're looking forward to running our treatment plants at high capacity well into the season," Gere said.

SJWC's Lake Elsman Reservoir was at full capacity March 1, with 18 inches of rain received in February for a season total to date of 43 inches. That amount is five inches more than the entire seasonal average. Gere said that, in some ways, late rainfall is especially useful, because it allows the company to delay the release of water and save supplies for hotter months ahead.

DiMarco said the district was expecting a late rainy season, and, while some predicted a drier year, the season to date has been close to forecasters' predictions. He added that the valley still had the snow melt to look forward to, as well.

"Weather forecasting is a science that relies on a lot of variables coming together in an assumed pattern," he said. "The bottom line, as always, is that mother nature is in control."

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