Holiday rain to positively impact Arizona's water supply

PHOENIX — It was hard to miss all of the rain Phoenix got over the holiday break. The Valley had the wettest Christmas Eve in nearly 80 years.

So could it help our state's water supply?

Derek Hodges at the National Weather Service's Phoenix office says the long-term picture is Arizona is still in a drought and facing a water shortage. However, there is some good news.

"There are still problems that we have to deal with, but I also think we have to be positive about the short-term things that we have," Hodges said. "Knowing going into this winter it was a La Nina year, it was probably going to be dry, so to have at least a single month that was well above normal, I feel better than I thought I would be going into the winter at this point. We're doing OK with this winter for South Central Arizona."

Hodges says he believes the winter rain will have a positive impact on our state's reservoirs. By looking at the numbers from the Salt River Project, he says water levels have gone up a couple of percentage points this past month.

However, the recent rain is far from an ultimate fix which is why he says water conservation is so important.

"Our water problem is everyone's problem, it's not something that any of us can just ignore and it goes away. Everyone has to do their part to be water conscious," he said.