[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY -1/20/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

January 20, 2009

 

2. Supply –

 

 

Dry weather leaves Folsom Lake thirsty

Sacramento Bee

 

Minus boats, lake stills

Riverside Press Enterprise

 

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Dry weather leaves Folsom Lake thirsty

Sacramento Bee – 1/18/09

By Bill Lindelof

From the moonscape of Granite Bay to high and dry Brown's Ravine, Folsom Lake is looking pretty empty these days – about half as full as normal.

"It's a long walk from the parking lot to the water," said California State Parks' Folsom Sector Superintendent Dan Tynan.

 

Unfortunately for thirsty Folsom Lake, there won't be too much rain or snow this week. Clear skies after morning fog are forecast for most of the week. There's only a slight chance of rain Thursday and Friday.

 

Water is regularly released from the reservoir – which can hold almost 1 million acre-feet of water – for hydropower and flood control, for fish habitat and for municipal users. An acre-foot of water is about 326,000 gallons.

 

The average amount in Folsom Lake this time of year is about 443,000 acre-feet. Currently, there are only 217,000 acre-feet in the lake.

 

Everyone is counting on the American River to replenish the reservoir. The American carries cold, clear water from the Sierra Nevada snowpack to Folsom Reservoir.

"For recreation, we depend on the snowpack," said Tynan. "We are always keeping our fingers crossed. We need a constant flow of water. That is what the snowpack provides."

 

But right now, the lake is so low that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is asking visitors not to take or move any historic remnants of homestead sites normally underwater and out of reach.

 

Removing any old bottles, farm tools or other items of years gone by is like tearing pages out of a history book, according to the bureau.

Once taken, they can never be replaced.

 

"When an item is taken out of its context, you lose a lot of potential information," said BranDee Bruce, architectural historian for the Bureau of Reclamation. "We really encourage people who go out there to only look."

 

With rocks and stumps visible in the lakebed, recreation is not booming. A 5 mph boat speed limit is still in effect for safety purposes.

 

"Recreation is minimal. It's mainly fishermen out there," said Tynan. "We still have boaters launching from the shoreline. There are no ramps open at this point at Folsom. And boats at Brown's Ravine are dry-docked."

 

There is hardly any sailing – in part because boaters don't want to bottom out. The low level also makes it hard to launch most sailboats.

Still, the lake's equestrian and hiking trails are open.

 

"It's a beautiful time of year," said Tynan.

He mentioned that adjacent Lake Natoma has plenty of water for rowing and kayaking. #

http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1552475.html?mi_rss=Our%2520Region

 

Minus boats, lake stills

Riverside Press Enterprise – 1/18/09

By BOB PRATTE

 

The absence of boats at Diamond Valley Lake was noticeable.

 

No sailboats caught the light breeze ruffling the water Tuesday even though it was a glorious January afternoon with temperatures in the high 70s. There were only about a dozen cars in the parking lot. There weren't any boat trailers.

 

There were only a couple rental boats on the Metropolitan Water District's jewel of a reservoir south of Hemet. There were no bass fishermen in their gleaming boats casting for trophy-size fish.

 

The reason for the lack of aquatic activity was evident at the big lake's deluxe, multi-lane launch ramp. The bottom of the ramp was high and dry. The water's edge was far below the ramp, separated by a steep walk over dirt.

 

Because the ramp was not completed to its designed length, boats can't be launched when the water is drawn to its low levels to meet water demands.

 

Metropolitan Water District has not pumped water into the massive storage reservoir in two years because of dwindling Colorado River supplies following winters of scant rainfall. The threat of the invasive quagga mussel -- which fouls reservoir pipe lines, pumps and valves by growing in big colonies -- also was a reason to curtail pumping water into the lake. The mussel, which arrives on boats and in Colorado River water, is present in other Southern California reservoirs, but not Diamond Valley Lake.

 

When the water level subsided below the ramp in October, boat launching ended.

 

The only ways lake visitors can navigate the reservoir are in rental boats already in the water or in approved kayaks and canoes that can be carried to the edge of the reservoir.

 

The water district will have the means to channel more Northern California water into the lake when a system of tunnels is completed near San Bernardino next year, but, as MWD spokesman Robert Muir points out, the agency is only receiving about 15 percent of its contracted State Water Project allotment because of dry conditions and environmental restrictions in the Sacramento Delta.

 

The district expects to receive more Colorado River water than during past years, but low levels throughout MWD's reservoir system exist and the mussel problem has not been solved. There is no predicted time when the lake will rise to the ramp again.

 

People who are using Diamond Valley Lake are having fun. Boat rental business is brisk on weekends and half-price Wednesdays. Shoreline fishing was expanded to three miles of the lake and often attracts more than 100 anglers on a weekend day. Mike Giusti, a state Fish and Game biologist who developed the fishery at the lake, said anglers have done well in recent months, though the fishing slowed last week. He said they are catching trout planted in the lake. They also are hooking striped feeding on the planted fish.

 

On Tuesday afternoon, only a few people were on the shore fishing. They seemed to be enjoying the pleasant day even though they weren't catching fish.

Dave Pearson, of Yucaipa, was just finishing a mountain-bike ride around the lake's high-water road called the Lakeview Trail. He liked it so much, he headed off for another 21.8-mile lap.

 

A bass fisherman himself, he said the riding made the lake a great place to visit despite the lack of boat launching. "At least they got $7 from me for parking up here," he said.#

http://www.pe.com/columns/bobpratte/stories/PE_News_Local_S_bob19.47fcc66.html

 

 

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