Bay Area likely to end up with below average rainfall, even with coming storm

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- With or without the next storm, there's plenty of water in the reservoirs the Bay Area counts on, for now. But, much of that water is from last year's rainy season. Water managers aren't counting on mother nature helping out much this season. So nobody's worried - yet.

Bruce Kirschenbaum took advantage of the calm before the rain to get in a little fishing at San Pablo reservoir. That's why he pays attention to the water levels.

"Last year we had a lot of rain, of course. So, most of the reservoirs were all filled up, and this year it hasn't been the same so it's been kind of low," Kirschenbaum said.

East Bay MUD agrees that it has been a dry year. In the East Bay, rainfall has been about half of normal. It's worse in the mountains, where precipitation has been closer to twenty percent of normal.

Of course, Supplies are nowhere near the lows we experienced during the drought years before 2017, when Californians were forced to take extreme conservation measures. But, water companies warn that less draconian conservation measures are now the norm, thanks to changing weather patterns. That's why water managers will reassess their situation in the spring. East Bay MUD spokeswoman Andrea Pook says, "We'll be better able to tell our customers do we need to do more than conserve as a way of life - do we need to repeat extreme conservation."

As for our fisherman Bruce, he says why worry about something you can't control. "I'm not too worried about it cause eventually it will all even out in the end."