The water supply for metro Phoenix relies almost entirely on snowfall from the White Mountains in eastern Arizona, but with another warm winter, the third dry winter in a row, The Salt River Project expects only a third of normal runoff this year. In Arizona, the winter months are the most important when it comes to collecting water. Snow from the White Mountains melts, and the water runs into the Salt and Verde Rivers where it eventually reaches our sinks and showers.
Charlie Ester, a hydrologist at SRP, said despite the lack of rain and snow, Arizonans will not be without water any time soon.
"Our reservoirs are not full, but we’re more than half full and we’re very well situated to handle a dry winter, a dry spring, and going into the heavy demand months of the summer," said Ester. "The reservoir system is really well situated to handle even more than seven years of dry weather in a row."
Ester said climatologists and meteorologists at SRP keep track of ocean temperatures and even gravity waves in the atmosphere that affect the weather. He said they do not anticipate any water shortages or restrictions in the coming months.