An aerial view of the Harvey O. Banks Delta Pumping Plant, a key part of the California State Water Project. The facility is located west of Tracy, Calif., near Byron, Calif. (Photo courtesy of California Department of Water Resources)
The most drenching storms in the past five years have soaked Northern California, sending billions of gallons of water pouring across the state after three years of severe drought.
But 94% of the water that has flowed through a key area, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, since New Year’s Eve has flowed out to the Pacific Ocean, unable to be captured to fully fill