East Bay Reservoirs Now Full After Winter Storms

EAST BAY, CA -- East Bay Municipal Utility District reservoirs are full after heavy rains this winter, one of the wettest in years.

"We've been frankly relieved to have such an incredible first half of the rainy season," EBMUD board president Lesa McIntosh said in a statement.

The utility district brings drinking water to 1.4 million East Bay customers.

Utility crews are now turning their attention to managing the impact of all the water on watersheds, water storage facilities and wastewater operations.

The water season began Oct. 1 and that month and January have been the wettest on record, district officials said. That's filled the utility district's Pardee Reservoir and the district's East Bay reservoirs, but the large amount of water has brought different challenges to district crews.

Crews are now focused on controlling releases from reservoirs, managing a landslide adjacent to the Briones Aqueduct and dealing with water entering the wastewater system, McIntosh said.

Crews identified the landslide following wet weather the week of Jan. 9 and repairs were made to protect the aqueduct, which is a critical water pipeline that delivers drinking water to area water treatment plants.

Separately, crews are now releasing water to control water levels in reservoirs including the San Pablo Reservoir, Upper San Leandro Reservoir and Chabot Reservoir.

Additional releases from area reservoirs may be made between winter storms when creeks can absorb the runoff, utility district officials said.

Bay City News contributed to this report/Image via Shutterstock