Big January rains leave Napa County reservoirs in good shape

Jan 29, 2019 at 10:00am

Barry Eberling: Napa Valley Register

Local reservoirs big and small are in good shape. Steve Moulds, who grows grapes in the hills along Dry Creek Road about a half-mile north of the city of Napa, is grateful.

Moulds a year ago at this time saw his tiny irrigation reservoir half-empty, when it is usually full toward the end of January. The slow start to the rain season had him worried.

Local cities depend on far larger reservoirs than Moulds’ to provide water to their residents and businesses. For the city of Napa, Lake Hennessey in the mountains east of Rutherford is the major source.

Lake Hennessey in November was 69 percent full. The January storms boosted it to 93 percent. The big storm that hit in mid-January alone boosted lake levels by more than seven feet.

The city also has smaller Milliken Reservoir in the mountains near Silverado Resort. It is full and should be used this spring and summer for the first time since the October 2017 Atlas fire.

The storms left Lake Berryessa reservoir at 85 percent of capacity. The massive federal reservoir provides water to Solano County cities and farms and is a recreation draw in eastern Napa County.

Lake Berryessa at its post-summer low point was 77 percent full. Because of its large size relative to its watershed, it is both slower to fill and slower to empty than smaller reservoirs such as Milliken and Lake Hennessey.

Lake Berryessa at capacity holds 1.6 million acre feet of water, Lake Hennessey 31,000 acre feet, Rector Reservoir 4,500 acre feet, Bell Canyon Reservoir 2,500 acre feet, Milliken Reservoir 1,390 acre feet and Kimball Reservoir 312 acre feet. The Water Education Foundation says the average California family uses a half-acre to an acre foot of water annually.

The National Weather Service on Friday said computer models show a chance of rain returning to the area around Feb. 1.

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