Each year, Lake Oroville helps irrigate a quarter of the nation’s crops, keeps endangered salmon under its massive earthen dam, and anchors the tourist economy of a northern California county that apparently all needs to rebuild. the years after incessant forest fires.
But now the mighty lake, a lynchpin in a system of aqueducts and reservoirs in the arid western US that makes California possible, is shrinking at surprising speed amid a severe drought, and state officials predict it will reach a minimum historic later this summer.
While droughts are common in California, this year is much hotter and drier than others, evaporating water more quickly from reservoirs and the scant Sierra Nevada snow cover that feeds them. The state’s more than 1,500 reservoirs are 50 percent lower than they should be this time of year, according to Jay Lund, co-director of the Watershed Science Center at the University of California-Davis.
During Memorial Day weekend, dozens of houseboats landed on concrete blocks in Lake Oroville because there wasn’t enough water to contain them. Blackened trees lined the rugged, parched banks of the reservoir.
At nearby Folsom Lake, the normally bustling boat docks rested on land, and their buoys warned ghost ships to slow down. Campers occupied the dusty riverbanks further north on Lake Shasta.
But the impacts of declining reservoirs go beyond luxury yachts and weekend anglers. Salmon need cold water from the bottom of the tanks to spawn. The San Francisco Bay needs fresh water from reservoirs to keep out the salt water, which damages freshwater fish. Farmers need water to irrigate their crops. Businesses need full deposits for people to come play in them and spend money. And everyone needs the water to run the hydroelectric plants that supply much of the state’s energy.
If Lake Oroville falls below 195 meters, which could happen in late August, state officials would shut down a major power plant a second time due to low water levels, overloading the power grid during the peak. in demand from the hottest part of the summer.
In Butte County, Northern California, low water triggers another emotion: fear. The county suffered the deadliest wildfire in the United States in a century in 2018, when 85 people died. Last year, another 16 people died in a forest fire.
Withered trees
Walking the Bidwell Canyon trail last week, 63-year-old Lisa Larson was supposed to have a good view of the lake. Instead, he saw grass and withered trees. “It makes me feel like our planet is literally drying up,” he said. “It makes me feel a little uneasy because the drier it gets, the more fires we’re going to have.”
Droughts are part of life in California, where a Mediterranean-style climate means that summers are always dry and winters are not always wet. The state’s reservoirs act like a savings account, storing water in wet years to help the state survive dry years.
Last year was the third driest year on record in terms of precipitation. Temperatures hit triple digits across much of California over Memorial Day weekend, earlier than expected. State officials were shocked earlier this year when about 500,000 acre feet (61,674 meters per hectare) of water they expected to flow into the reservoirs never made it. One acre-foot is enough water to supply up to two homes for one year.
“In the previous drought, it took them (the reservoirs) three years to get to this level as low as they are in the second year of this drought,” Lund said.
The lake’s all-time low is 197 meters, but the Department of Water Resources projects that it will drop below that level sometime in August or September. If that happens, the state will have to close the boat ramps for the first time due to low water levels, according to Aaron Wright, chief of public safety for the Northern Buttes District of California State Parks. The only boat access to the lake would be an old dirt road that was built during the construction of the dam in the late 1960s.
“We have a deposit up there that cannot be used. Now what? Said Eric Smith, a member of the Oroville City Council and president of its chamber of commerce.
Low water level
The water level is so low in Lake Mendocino, a reservoir along the Russian River in Northern California, that state officials last week reduced the amount of water going to 930 farmers, businesses and other holders of water rights.
“Unless we immediately reduce diversions, there is a real risk that Lake Mendocino will empty by the end of this year,” said Erik Ekdahl, deputy director of the Water Rights Division of the State Water Board.
Low water levels in California will severely limit the amount of energy the state can generate from hydroelectric power plants. When Lake Oroville is full, the Edward Hyatt power plant and others nearby can generate up to 900 megawatts of power, according to Behzad Soltanzadeh, chief of public services operations for the Department of Water Resources. One megawatt is enough to power between 800 and 1,000 homes.
Power outages
That has some local officials concerned about power outages, especially after the state lost power last summer during an extreme heat wave that triggered California’s first rolling blackouts in 20 years. But energy officials say they are better prepared this summer, having obtained an additional 3,500 megawatts of capacity before the scorching summer months.
Low levels are a challenge for tourism officials. Bruce Spangler, Chairman of the Board of Directors for Explore Butte County, grew up in Oroville and has fond memories of fishing with his grandfather and learning how to launch and drive a boat before he could drive a car. But this summer, his organization must be careful how it markets the lake while managing visitor expectations, he said. And he added: “We have to be sure not to promise something that cannot be.”
The low levels of the lake have not yet prevented the arrival of tourists. With coronavirus restrictions being lifted across the state, Wright, the Northern California state parks official, said attendance at most parks in his area is double what it normally is around this time of the year. anus.
“People are trying to recreate and use the facilities even more (because) they know they are going to lose them here in a few months,” he said. (AP)
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