There were 13 days in May when the temperature rose above 90 degrees, including three when it eclipsed the century mark inside of Lathrop’s city limits. 
And despite getting as hot as 101 degrees, Lathrop residents still managed to use 17 percent less water than they did during the same month in 2013 – the base level being used by the State of California to measure water conservation efforts that are still being mandated.
According to numbers released to the California Water Resources Control Board, residents of Lathrop used 135.86 million gallons of water in May – which included a varied monthly climate that ranged from 69 degrees to 101 degrees – compared to 168.16 million gallons of water in 2013. There were no enforcement actions taken on behalf of the city, and no formal complaints filed against customers of the city’s existing water service.
How long the mandatory water restrictions remain in place will be up to the State of California, which experienced its wettest winter on record, to decide as they wait out another year to determine whether the record snowpack and rainfall Northern California residents experienced – effectively ending the drought in almost all parts of the state – was an anomaly.
Currently Don Pedro Reservoir, on the Tuolumne River watershed, is only 29,000 acre-feet away from reaching capacity, while the slightly larger New Melones Reservoir, on the Stanislaus River, is just over 28,000 acre-feet away from reaching the top of the spillway.
It’s the first time in years that both reservoirs have surpassed the 2-million-acre-foot mark at the same time as California has weathered one of the worst droughts on record prior to the record rainfall that started falling early last season and led to dam operators at Don Pedro being overwhelmed when inflows hit their highest level in almost a decade.
And the largest lake in the State of California, Shasta, on the Sacramento River watershed in Northern California, has filled almost completely in a single winter with snow still left in the snowpack that fills the lake and the rivers that feed it – the Sacramento, Pit and McCloud Rivers and several smaller tributaries – left to empty.
Next week the City of Lathrop is expected to release its water conservation numbers for the month of June, which far surpassed May in terms of temperature, and included record highs in many parts of the region. During June, there were 13 days where the temperature reached or exceeded 95 degrees including 8 eight days when it eclipsed the century mark. The temperature of 109 degrees, on June 19, set a historical record for that day.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.