Recent rains have been good for the Salt and Verde river watersheds. The metro Phoenix area depends on the six reservoirs along the rivers for much of its water needs. But as KJZZ’s Al Macias reports that despite the rain it’s been a dry winter.

AL MACIAS: This is shaping up to be the third dry winter in a row over central Arizona. The recent rains added about 100,000 acre feet of water to the lakes north of the Valley. That puts storage at about 55 percent of capacity. Salt River Project manages the reservoir system. Tim Skarupa with SRP says the winter runoff is critical.

TIM SKARUPA: That winter precipitation is critical, providing about 80 to 90 percent of the water stored in those reservoirs come from the winter months. So it is important time of the year for us to gain that storage that we use the rest of the year.

MACIAS: During the wet winter of 2010, the storage was at 94 percent on February first that year and actually reached capacity in the spring. SRP says the water from three years ago is still helping to supply needs today.