Great Read on Reservoir Health, Water Status and Snowpack

[TheFLY]

Full story here: http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/01/09/ ... eservoirs/

Some key statistics/points excerpted from story:

[w]e certainly don’t have a statewide drought right now. ... Despite concerns that the weekend storm’s warmer temperatures would significantly deplete the Sierra Nevada snowpack, it grew significantly. Last Monday, it was 70 percent of historic average. This Monday, it had grown to a staggering 126 percent for this time of the year.... In a typical year, that “Northern Sierra eight-station index” receives 50 inches of precipitation. As of Monday it was already at 40 inches — 199 percent of the historic average for this date — and running slightly above 1982-83 and 1997-98, both of which were marked by severe El Niño flooding.... Perhaps most dramatic was San Luis Reservoir, California’s fifth largest, located between Gilroy and Los Banos. Sitting at 10 percent full in August, it now is 66 percent full, having risen 134 feet.

[Chad Sweitzer]

It will be interesting to see how low the reservoirs get this year. New Melones has stayed just as low for the last 3 years despite getting more rain. Oroville went from high, to almost record lows this year. Are they taking more water than they used too?

[Gary Dobyns]

Great read. I was surprised at the volume of Trinity and New Melones. Their storage capacity is more than I would of thought. Shasta at 4.5 Mil and Oroville at 3.5 Mil are the two biggest but Trinity at 2.45 Mil and Melones at 2.4 Mil was a surprise. Both of these still need major help too!!!

[Whoopbass]

The water in New Melones is mainly controlled by the San Jouquin water district and Oakdale Irrigation District. They are the agencies that are behind the eradication of all non native species like the "predator" striped bass and an organization called 'Save the Stan" which does basically the opposite of what the name suggests.
It appears their senior water rights gives them control over the water in Melone's. They really didn't limit farm water use like Modesto Irrigation District (Don Pedro) did during the drought and that's why the lake is in the condition it's in.

[Larry Hemphill]

I take hwy 99 from Yuba City to Sacramento at least once a week, always crossing the Feather River. It was very high all summer and fall. Major release of water from Oroville for as long a period of time as I have ever seen for decades. Not sure the reason, but is was a historic release of water for a short period of time. I guess there was some "catching up" to do down stream.

[Gary Dobyns]

Agreed Larry. Oroville had FAR more than normal releases all summer. I've never seen the Feather run like it did this past summer. I'm sure it was sold water.