Lake Nacimiento Being Pillaged

Post by **WB Staff** » Fri Apr 13, 2018 12:12 pm

Pillaging: To strip ruthlessly of all valuables by open violence, as in war; to plunder, despoil, abuse, and mistreat.

...We are just coming off of a seven-year drought. Last year, when the lake nearly filled, the agency released the water so fast that just about every dock in the lake was left high and dry. Residents requested to be told before the release so that they could protect their docks and property. But that request fell on deaf ears. When asked about it, the MCWRA responded by saying it had to prepare for next year's rains. Not really knowing whether it would actually rain, this is a blatant reminder of this agency's incompetence. It seems its power is in the hands of ignorant people.
Lake Nacimiento was built as a watershed for farmers in the Salinas River basin. Those farmers don't want or need the water in the winter when they get their own rain. They also want the water conserved for the spring and summer months when we reach three-digit temperatures and crops are suffering. And if there is another year of drought, we need the water to fight fires with. The sensible thing to do is conserve the water that's there for the times when it isn't and to regulate the dam properly for safety and flooding.

In the past, the Nacimiento dam couldn't hold at 100 percent capacity. That was fixed a few years ago. Now, unless that system has failed at the price of a few million dollars, the lake should be able to hold at least a 70 to 80 percent backlog of water. Why drain the lake to 20 and 30 percent by summer, leaving clubs and private property owners with no launching facilities and wildlife scrambling for a viable water source?...

Read the Rest: https://www.newtimesslo.com/sanluisobis ... id=4825594

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Sat Apr 14, 2018 3:14 pm

I would think it's time for a "Class Action" law suit to be filed !! This state has so many irresponsible people in charge of our water it's a wonder we even have lakes/reservoirs with any water in them !!

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Sun Apr 15, 2018 6:01 am

Did they release it downstream, or sell it?

steve0806 · Post by **steve0806** » Mon Apr 16, 2018 5:00 am

mark poulson wrote:Did they release it downstream, or sell it?

They have to release it for the steelhead run in the Salinas river. Would have been good journalism for the writer to point that out. However, journalism died a while back.

drew · Post by **drew** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 9:12 am

Saltwater intrusion is the main reason but the steelhead spawn is also a factor. The only issue I have is they let out far more then they needed and they did not let it fill all the way up. The max elevation is 800ft and they started dumping early and it never got above 792.35ft. 8ft does not sound like much but at full pool it is a tremendous amount of water.

steve0806 wrote:
mark poulson wrote:Did they release it downstream, or sell it?
They have to release it for the steelhead run in the Salinas river. Would have been good journalism for the writer to point that out. However, journalism died a while back.

monte300 · Post by **monte300** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 1:59 pm

Mitch wrote:I would think it's time for a "Class Action" law suit to be filed !! This state has so many irresponsible people in charge of our water it's a wonder we even have lakes/reservoirs with any water in them !!

Thank you Governor Brown, you POW