A multi-year drought could require a multi-year fix. State Department of Water Resources spokesman Doug Carlson said more than one normal rain year is probably needed.

“An extremely wet year might do the trick, but that’s seemingly unlikely based on the weather patterns we’ve seen over the last several years,” Carlson said.

The drought has badly hurt parts of the state. Well levels are plummeting in the Central Valley, hurting towns, rural homes and farms. Pine trees are dying by the millions in the southern Sierra Nevadas.

Napa County hasn’t escaped the drought. Still, Napa State Hospital has received 80 percent of normal rain over the past five years and last year’s total of more than 24 inches was near normal.

Following the 2015-16 rain season, Napa Valley last summer was once again green with grape vines. The National Weather Service measures rainfall from July 1 through June 30.

“The water year for us in total was actually really good,” said Garrett Buckland of Premiere Viticultural Services. “In Northern California, we received roughly around our average amount of rainfall.”

Late spring, rains recharged the soils with water and allowed some vineyard owners to cut water use by 20 percent to 30 percent, he said.

The city of Napa enters rain year 2016-17 with its main reservoir, Lake Hennessey in the mountains east of Rutherford, 84 percent full. City Water General Manager Joy Eldredge said even a below-normal rain year could fill the reservoir by next summer.

“It’s a solid position to be in at the end of the dry season,” Eldredge said.

Massive Lake Berryessa in eastern Napa County will be harder to fill. The federal reservoir that provides Solano County cities and farms with water and serves as a Napa County recreation draw is at 53 percent of capacity.
Lake Berryessa was last at capacity more than a decade ago. The federal Capell Cove public boat launch closed Aug. 8 because receding water levels no longer reached the ramp.

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