After another week of storms, Santa Barbara County is seeing higher-than-normal rainfall and strong water reserves for the year. 

The amount of rainfall is well above 100% of what the county usually gets at this point in the water year, and is well above the county’s average rainfall for an entire water year, which runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31, according to the Santa Barbara County Flood Control District Rainfall and Reservoir Summary.

Joshua Haggmark, Water Resources manager for the city of Santa Barbara, called the water supply a “dream-like” scenario.

“I can’t imagine a more idyllic situation,” Haggmark said. “Both Gibraltar and Cachuma started spilling in December and have continued to spill, and these storms we got will continue to have that happen so it is just great. We’re in such a great water supply situation.”

Haggmark said it’s unusual for the county’s water supply to be “so good” this early into the year.

“Usually if Gibraltar or Cachuma spills, it usually doesn’t happen until March,” Haggmark said. “This was a very unusual year, to have it start spilling in December.”

While Californians are used to always being in a drought, the state is free from drought conditions for the first time in 25 years — at least for now. 

“It could easily turn around and turn right back into a drought next year, but let’s just take this moment to appreciate that we’re not in one and we can focus on other community issues,” Haggmark said. 

The significant rainfall has also helped the county’s groundwater basins, which are underground water reservoirs.

“We’ve seen some recovery from the drought in a number of the groundwater basins countywide,” said Matt Young, the Santa Barbara County Water Agency manager. “Some areas recharge faster than others, but overall we’re seeing significant improvement.”

Since late December when Cachuma reached capacity, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has been consulting with the County Water Agency and Flood Control District on water releases into the Santa Ynez River to prevent the lake from overflowing after significant rainfall.

So far there hasn’t been any downstream flooding, according to Young, and one benefit is that the surplus water is free for water agencies like the Goleta Water District. 

“That water is free so they can stop using their other supplies; they don’t have to pay the Bureau of Reclamation for that water,” Young said. “Some, like the Goleta Water District, use that water to replenish their groundwater basins. They’ll actually take that and inject that into the groundwater basin to try to save that for another day.”

California could see more rain in the next two months. March historically contributes 18% to the county’s annual rainfall while April historically contributes 7%, according to historic monthly rainfall trends. 

While reservoirs are already full, Young said the extra rain could give the county more time before groundwater basins are needed during drought conditions.

“Every drop counts, it’s all beneficial,” Young said. “At this point the lake is already full, so it won’t have much effect on the reservoirs; certainly it will help continue to recharge the groundwater basins.”

New Santa Barbara water department

Recently the Santa Barbara City Council pulled water resources out of the city Public Works Department and made water resources its own department, which Haggmark said allows for more attention on water resource issues. 

Previously water resources took up two-thirds of the city public works budget and half the staff, according to Haggmark.

“I really appreciate it,” Haggmark said. “I think we’re getting a lot more visibility with council as it comes to water issues, and I think that’s pretty consistent with other communities as well.”