Nearly all of California's major reservoirs saw water level changes after back-to-back atmospheric rivers brought a deluge of rain throughout the state.

After years of drought, several reservoirs in California reached concerningly low water levels in the summer of 2022. However, an abnormally wet winter last year alleviated much of the state's drought and replenished the lakes. For example, Lake Shasta, the state's largest reservoir, neared capacity last year.

Despite the improvement, many reservoirs still need some recovery, and a slew of atmospheric rivers battering California over the past week have improved water levels across the state.

According to data from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), water levels improved at all of the state's major reservoirs except for Diamond Valley Lake, which remained stable at 93 percent of its capacity.

After the storms, Lake Shasta saw the largest acre-feet increase, jumping up nearly 164,000 acre-feet. Lake Shasta was followed by Trinity Lake and Folsom Lake at 89,651 acre-feet and 50,959 acre-feet increases, respectively.

The largest water elevation gain occurred at New Bullards Bar Reservoir, with a change in water levels of 11.82 feet. Lake Sonoma and Trinity Lake followed New Bullards Bar for reservoirs with the greatest elevation gain at 9.35 feet and 7.32 feet, respectively.

Lake Cachuma and Lake Sonoma tied for the largest percent of capacity gain at 7 percent jump in capacity. Folsom Lake, Lake Casitas and New Bullards Bar Reservoir all followed with a 5 percent capacity increase.

However, all the reservoirs with the greatest improvement were not within the DWR's State Water Project facilities.

"For DWR's State Water Project facilities, Lake Oroville saw the largest acre-feet gain with an increase of 28,846 acre-feet. However Castaic Lake had the largest elevation gain at 5.11 feet and largest percent capacity gain at just over a 3 percent increase," a DWR spokesperson told Newsweek.

The spokesperson added: "DWR works with its partners at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and other downstream water operators to coordinate releases from SWP reservoirs. These releases are optimized to permit carryover water storage into the next year, while still providing flood protection to downstream communities and supporting the environment."

Meanwhile, DWR officials opened the main spillway at Oroville Dam last week to release billions of gallons of water from the lake in advance of the torrential rain. The gates have since closed.

Reservoir water levels could see more improvement later this month, as meteorologists are tracking another impactful storm, with the potential for "hazardous" rainfall for much of California. That storm is expected to hit the state at the end of next week.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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