Salt And Verde River Reservoirs Looking More Full Than Last Year

By Scott Bourque
Published: Monday, December 9, 2019 - 12:32pm
Updated: Thursday, December 19, 2019 - 10:39am

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The Salt River at sunset
Bridget Dowd/KJZZ
The Salt River at sunset.

This time last year, the six reservoirs in the Salt River and Verde River systems were only at 47% capacity. 

Now, they’re at 68% capacity. 

SRP attributes these numbers to a productive winter last year, when the Verde River watershed saw 140% more snowpack than average — the deepest in two decades. 

In February, SRP had to release tens of thousands of gallons of water from the reservoirs to make space for the snow runoff. 

They’re expecting another productive winter this year. 

Science Sustainability