Rain did little to restock Lake Cachuma

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — Torrential rain soaked most of the South and Central Coasts last week. Reports of up to 13 inches of rain near Gaviota from farmers' yard samplings. And the National Weather Service stating 6.7 inches of rain fell in Lompoc. However, not much of it made its way into the Central Coast’s reservoir Lake Cachuma.

Matt Young is the Santa Barbara County Water Agency manager. He said the reservoir only rose 1% from 63% capacity to 64%. And most of the added water was from the sky not runoff.

Young said, “The watershed was so dry it acts like a big sponge and soaks up all of the water before it can runoff and actually give us some additional water supply.”