PPIC Blog Looks at February Storms and Water Storage by ACWA Staff Feb 24, 2025 Water News SACRAMENTO — A Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) blog post on Feb. 24 analyzes the impact of February’s stream of atmospheric rivers on the state’s water storage. “This very wet early February did not result in large quantities of new stored water,” the blog’s authors found, adding that “Reservoir operations for flood control, the limited capacity of the federal and state projects, and regulations to protect fish limited storage to about 4% of the runoff.” They concluded that “the early February storms remind all of us that there is a lot of hard, expensive, and sometimes controversial work ahead if the state is going to successfully adapt to changing conditions.” The entire blog post, including a chart detailing the amount of uncaptured storm water, can be viewed on the PPIC’s website.
