Only On 9: Making Every Drop Count! Did Storms Help Alleviate The Drought?

PICO RIVERA (CBSLA.com) —   Heavy rains came Tuesday but was it too little to lighten up California's drought conditions?

The good news: Much of the water that came down was captured in flood control channels.

KCAL9's Serene Branson visited such a channel in Pico Rivera.

The bad news: the heavy rain only made a small dent in the problem. It's a story that is Only On 9.

"We captured about 358 million gallons -- that's enough for about 8,000 people for a year," said Bob Spencer with the LA County Public Works Department.

But Spencer said every bit helps.

About 30 percent of our water comes from rain. That's a number officials would like to increase.

He gave Branson a behind-the-scenes look at what's called Rubber Dam No. 1.

Just yesterday, the riverbed was dry.

"Unfortunately, the storms were not a drought buster," Spencer said, "but we are hoping when El Nino hits, gentler, and a lot longer that that will serve us well.'

From the mountains and catch basins, the water flows to dams like Rubber Dam No. 1.

That water ends up in one of 26 spreading grounds throughout LA County. You can't see the water now but it's slowly percolating underground and will reach your tap within 4-5 years.

"It will be a lot cleaner than it is now," says Spencer, "this is part of flood controls dual purpose -- protecting residents from flood and also capturing as much of this water as we can."

Other local and federal agencies capture water, too. They're all working together on a master plan to upgrade and expand facilities to make every storm count.

"We've invested a lot of money, tens of millions of dollars in fact," says Spencer, "in improving facilities such as this one and making storm water capture bigger than is today."