Lake Piru has more than doubled its water volume in 2019 alone as the result of a series of storms that have passed through Southern California.

As a result of the recent storms in January and February, United Water Conservation District has successfully harvested 27,610 acre-feet of water—enough to serve 110,400 people in Ventura County for one year.

United Water’s Lake Piru rose 34-feet over the last two months and is now 39% full. According to water experts at United Water, this is more than double the amount of water that was previously in the lake.

United Water Conservation District collects stormwater in Lake Piru and strategically releases it into the Santa Clara River and diverts it at the Freeman Diversion facility where it is used to replenish underground aquifers and to deliver surface water.

The storms of 2019 have been good for Ventura County.  According to United Water Conservation District, the first two months of rain have provided 10% of the needed water volume for complete drought recovery within Ventura County.

But officials caution that Ventura County is still not out of the drought.  In fact, it would take 10 more storm events like the ones that occurred during the first two months of 2019 for Ventura County to be out of the drought all-together.

“January and February storms have allowed United Water to harvest 27,610 acre- feet of water, which were collected in Lake Piru and diverted in part to our Freeman Diversion Facility,” said Mauricio Guardado, General Manager for United Water Conservation District.  “And while this is more rain than we have seen in a long while, we would need 180,000 acre-feet more water to be completely out of the drought.”

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