SRP: Valley heading into summer with plenty of water
Mar 13, 2013, 5:00 AM
PHOENIX — Salt River Project went into the winter very concerned that this could be the third consecutive one without significant precipitation, but recent weather has assuaged the fears.
The recent series of storms dumped several feet of snow in the high country and reservoirs that supply the Valley with water are 10 percent higher than January. When the latest snowpack melts, that number should increase by a further 20 percent.
“You could say that this year provided an entire year’s worth of water,” said Charlie Ester with SRP.
Ester said the wet winter means the Valley won’t be seeing any water shortages this year.
Ester said the snowpack in Colorado and Wyoming that feeds the Colorado River, Lake Mead and Lake Powell and the Central Arizona Project has less than stellar, but he’s not alarmed yet.
“Those reservoirs are huge and 55 percent full. That will provide adequate water for several years.”
Roosevelt Lake should be at 60 percent of capacity when the latest snowpack filters into it.
In 2002, lake levels dropped to only 9 percent.
