Casitas management proposed plan to fill the lake

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MikeR
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Location: Ventura, CA
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Casitas management proposed plan to fill the lake

Post by MikeR »

With Lake Casitas, a 250,000 acre foot reservoir, at or near 44% capacity, the lake only needs 140,000 acre feet of water to fill it up. There are 325,851 gallons in 1 acre foot. That means there is just over 45.5 billion gallons needed... that's all it will take!

In years past we've all seen El Nino weather patterns fill the lake up in a storm or two. This year with most of the rainy season behind us and a slim hope of a storm or two hitting us in April; The lake Casitas management has announced a new program to fill the lake before summer.

It will take a few bucks but I'm good for $100 or 101 gallon bottles. Who's with me? We only need 451,671,653 more people to do the same!

Only $.99 at your local Vons.
The Casitas Solution.png
The Casitas Solution.png (83.4 KiB) Viewed 1454 times
As I type this we're getting another "tease" of a thunderstorm in Ojai right now but not enough to make a dent. Sure is nice to see all the water flowing up North though. I just wish a little could have made it here for Casitas, Cachuma, and the Central Coast lakes. At least Cachuma is connected to the State Water Project and can turn on the faucet if they want to spend the $$. Hopefully April will bring the some rain so we can sustain.

Mike
Always lookin' for mud lines!
https://signarama.com/locations/ca-ventura/
JRI93
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Joined: Mon Feb 29, 2016 3:16 pm

Re: Casitas management proposed plan to fill the lake

Post by JRI93 »

I was crafting a similar plan for lake Lopez. Being a small reservoir, it should be easy.

We will bring the water in on 5,000 gallon tanker trucks. in order to fill the lake to 100% it will only require that we unload 1 tanker truck into the lake per second for 26.19 days! that's only 86,400 tanker trucks a day and it will be full in under a month!

In all reality, when you think of how much water these lakes hold (and this is a tiny one compared to the ones up north that were recently filled) it is mind boggling that one or two solid rain storms can fill them up like you mentioned.
MikeR
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Re: Casitas management proposed plan to fill the lake

Post by MikeR »

From an online article about Casitas. I bolded and italicized an interesting solution they came up with in 1961:

"Dam Completed

Once the Casitas Dam was completed Lake Casitas remained practically empty for four years. Water levels were only a foot and a half above the bottom of the lowest intake gate by 1961. Water was too low to get to customers. Plans were made to bring in barges with large pumps that could get the water into the intake structure.

It was February of 1962 when over 20 inches of rain fell within a five day period that Lake Casitas filled to 53,000 acre-feet of water. Then in 1969 there was too much water. Two “one-hundred-year storms” slammed the county. Rainfall reached 70 inches and caused $1.5 million in damages to the Robles Diversion Canal, several pipelines and the Casitas recreation area. The damage prevented Lake Casitas from filling up. It would not be until March 31, 1978 that water would flow over the Casitas Dam spillway."


I moved here in December of 78 and started fishing Casitas (from shore) in February of 1979. I had no idea Casitas had only just filled the year before. I assumed it had been full for some time.

Cut and paste the link below to read the rest here:
http://www.casitaswater.org/history/

Lake Cachuma has some interesting history as well. They were connected to the State Water project in 1997. Here is the link to information concerning the State Water project that linked Lake Cachuma to the state's aqueduct.

http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts ... ewater.asp

Something to note: They are required to buy water, per an established agreement when the tunnel was completed, if water is available. "The City's entitlement is 3,300 acre feet per year, subject to availability. Average deliveries to the City are estimated at 1,151 acre feet per year under the LTWSP, with annual deliveries projected to range from 363 AF per year to 1,650 AF per year. The amount of water that can be delivered throughout California from the State Water Project varies year to year based on rainfall and riparian flow rates."

From an article on KSBY.com back in September of 2015 when the lake dropped to 17% and they placed a barge with special pumps to pump water into the intakes which are now well above the water level, now at 10%:

"As the lake level declines, locals hope for rain. In the meantime, the State Water Project should help.
Water officials say that project has supplied Cachuma with 20,000 acre feet of water in the last three years.
That's more than 12 percent of the lake's capacity."

So what you see in Cachuma now, and there is not much left, was all brought to the lake through the State Water Project these the last three years. There is no question that If after the rainy season is over and we are well into the summer, SB will have to reach out to the State for water just to get through the season. At least they can! Because of their foresight, they can sustain the lake, albeit at horrible levels.

Casitas on the other hand............. Bring in the barges or let's line up with some buckets boys!!!

Mike
Always lookin' for mud lines!
https://signarama.com/locations/ca-ventura/
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Bassin
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Location: San Luis Obispo County,CA

Re: Casitas management proposed plan to fill the lake

Post by Bassin »

I work at a Desal Plant at Diablo....my plan would be to have the county or state pay for a pipe line out of Diablo to directly connect to the Lopez lake, filler up!
Bryan Vogt..... Central Cal Bassin
mark poulson
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Re: Casitas management proposed plan to fill the lake

Post by mark poulson »

Does this mean they won't be going with my "pee in the lake" plan?
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