Local reservoirs have plumped to overflowing or close to it because of abundant rain over the past three weeks.

Water availability this summer is looking better for Napa, Yountville, St. Helena and Calistoga, all of which may all escape having to mandate customer cutbacks. It’s a different story for American Canyon.

The recent rains have had the greatest impact on St. Helena, which last month imposed restrictions on outdoor watering. Those storms have filled up Bell Canyon reservoir, averting what could have been a serious drought.

The 10.3 inches of rain received in February, along with more rain this week, caused the reservoir to spill over, starting between 2 and 4 a.m. Tuesday.

On Feb. 9 the reservoir was at just 37.1 percent of full capacity, causing many to expect 2009 would be a severe drought year. Last year the reservoir had already spilled in late January.

In spite of the welcome rain, St. Helena water customers remain under Phase II water restrictions, which will stay in effect until the city council cancels them.

Because American Canyon lacks local reservoirs, recent rains haven’t improved that city’s water situation. Staff will ask the American Canyon City Council later this month to order customers to reduce consumption by 20 percent, City Manager Rich Ramirez said Monday. American Canyon remains almost wholly dependent on the State Water Project, which is promising to deliver only 15 percent of contract amounts this year, said Felix Riesenberg, a county water resources engineer.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought emergency Friday, saying California is in the third year of a drought that recent rains have hardly dented.

His declaration urged urban water users to cut consumption by 20 percent, but left it up to each water agency to craft a plan that meets its own needs.

On Monday Phil Brun, general manager of Napa’s water system, said, “I don’t expect mandatory water rationing this summer.”

Even with the State Water Project delivering only 15 percent of contracted amounts, Napa has enough water to get through 2009 with only voluntary conservation, Brun said.

Not knowing if the statewide drought will continue in 2010 and beyond, Napa will be boosting voluntary conservation efforts this summer, he said.

Napa, which uses about 15,500 acre feet annually, intends to supplement its meager 2,500-acre foot allocation from the State Water Project with the purchase of 3,000 acre feet from a state “drought bank,” Brun said.

The governor’s drought declaration may spur the State Department of Water Resources to get the drought bank operating sooner than it would have, Riesenberg said.

Both Napa and American Canyon have applied for extra state water allocations. Most of the water in the drought bank would come from farmers who are letting fields go fallow or are planting crops that need less water, he said.

Until the skies opened up in February, there had been virtually no runoff this winter into either of Napa’s two reservoirs, Hennessey and Milliken, Brun said.

Now Milliken is full and Hennessey, a much larger reservoir, is at 87 percent of capacity, he said.

“It’s nice to see the way the storms are coming in,” Brun said. “It’s supposed to be a wet week, although not a lot of heavy rain.”

Going into February, Calistoga’s Kimball reservoir was down to 50 acre feet. Now Kimball has 255 acre feet, which is close to its capacity, Riesenberg said.

By mid February, Calistoga had received 6.74 inches of rain this year, compared to .92 between Feb. 1 and Feb. 18 last year, according to national weather tracker AccuWeather. By the end of this month AccuWeather reported Calistoga had received nine inches, or about three inches above normal. Last year, Calistoga only received 2.84 inches. AccuWeather gets its figures from measurements taken at Calistoga’s Old Faithful Geyser.

Even though city staffers in Calistoga felt confident the city had enough water resources to see the community through another summer of drought, last month the Calistoga City Council declared a stage one water emergency to encourage residents to save water.

Yountville gets its water from state-owned Rector reservoir, which supplies the Veterans Home of California. Even without the February rains, the town expected normal deliveries this summer.

While local reservoirs are in decent shape, the statewide system — which depends on the Sierra snowpack and enormous reservoirs in the central part of the state — is hurting.

The Department of Water Resources reported Monday that the snow pack was 80 percent of normal for the date, but this doesn’t make up for the dismal levels at major reservoirs.

Lake Oroville, the main storage reservoir for the State Water Project, has 55 percent of average storage for this time of year, according to DWR.

John Waters Jr. contributed to this report.

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