Butte County concerned over lake

levels

DWR has no immediate plans for spillway

releases

OROVILLE — There are more concerns over lake levels in Oroville as Butte County leaders take initiative to explore alternative options for safety measures.

The Department of Water Resources (DWR), a leg of the State Water Project, manages the Oroville Dam. On Wednesday, DWR officials remained adamant in saying they have no plans to release water from the Oroville Dam spillway.

“I’m very concerned about the lake levels,” District 1 Supervisor Bill Connelly said Tuesday during the Board of Supervisors meeting.

“Lake Oroville is being run in an antiquated and linear matter. (DWR’s) priority seems to be water delivery instead of public safety. We need to move into the next century. Climate change is real here. We’ve had warm rain on snow before, and if we have warm rain on snow right now, it would be one of the worst disasters in the history in the state.”

Connelly then offered a solution he called “forecast based operations” which has been implemented at Folsom Lake in Placer County, according to Connelly.

Folsom Lake is owned and operated by the U.S. Department of Reclamation.

According to Connelly, the forecast-based operations take into account the steep complex terrain near Oroville Dam around the water sheds and monitors warm rain on snow for public safety measures. It also scientifically measures snow pack with ground penetrating radar and satellites.

“It behooves us to write a letter to DWR to point out they need to move into the next century,” Connelly said. “I hope you would support me in writing a letter to them suggesting they put public safety over water delivery. When we go to a meeting with them, they say they can’t do this because of the cost. Well that one out of 10 chance we get a (disastrous flood) is a much greater cost than moving into this century and doing what’s right for the public.”

District 2 Supervisor Debra Lucero praised Connelly’s comments, saying she “absolutely agrees” and supports reaching out to DWR and asking them to look into more forecast-based operations. District 4 Supervisor Steve Lambert also agreed with Connelly.

Connelly added that DWR spends too much time and resources elsewhere, including repairing a federal levy in Sutter County and other projects in Yuba County.

“It’s my responsibility to report to you that DWR has gone off track,” Connelly said at the meeting “We should have staff look at limiting our obligations (with DWR) and what we originally agreed to.”

DWR was contacted on Wednesday and responded to Connelly’s claims.

“Public safety and flood protection are DWR’s top priorities in operational decisions regarding Oroville reservoir,” said Erin Mellon, assistant director for public affairs.

“Our operations plan, which is formed in consultation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, allows the lake to rise during late spring and summer. We work with the National Weather Service to closely monitor weather forecasts to determine anticipated inflows from the Feather River watershed from precipitation and snow melt.”

Regarding using forecast based operations, Mellon said DWR is currently funding an effort in partnership with the Yuba Water Agency and Scripps Research Institute to improve storm and runoff forecasting specifically for Oroville and New Bullards Bar dams, in conjunction with Forecast Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO). The press release can be found here.

According to Mellon, most of the surrounding snow melt has already occurred.

“The Feather River watershed experienced its peak snow melt runoff during the warm weather of the last week of April,” Mellon said. “Modeling data from DWR, the National Weather Service and NASA shows most of the snowpack in the Feather River watershed has already melted and that the remaining snowpack is limited to higher elevations.”

When the Oroville main spillway is not in use, DWR says operations primarily rely on the Hyatt Powerplant to release water from the reservoir. According to Mellon, DWR targets high lake levels through spring and summer in accordance with normal state and federal regulations.

“At this time, there is no need to use the main spillway,” Mellon said. “Releases from Hyatt Powerplant are adequate to meet operational requirements. DWR may need to use the main spillway again this spring to manage inflows from snowmelt or late spring precipitation and will notify the public and media if this is necessary.”

NorCal Reservoirs Approach Capacity with More Rain and Snow in the Forecast

At the beginning of May, Northern California reservoirs were already sitting at historic levels. Then came the unexpected stormy weather that saw historic rain in the valley and almost 2-feet of snow in the mountains.

Now, as the major lakes in NorCal approach capacity, the question remains – where will all this water go?

As of May 22nd, the four major NorCal reservoirs sit at or above 95 percent capacity, a sharp rise of 4 percent in just two weeks. Here are the current statistics:

Shasta Lake – 97% capacity – 113% historical average

Trinity Lake – 97% capacity – 114% historical average

Lake Oroville – 96% capacity – 115% historical average

Folsom Lake – 95% capacity – 117% historical average

Snow sensors across the Sierra Nevada indicate that snowpack is at 155 percent of historical average and 10 feet of snow remains in some Tahoe areas. During the road clearing process in Lassen Volcanic National Park, officials measured snow walls at 28 feet.

There’s so much water in NorCal and there is still much more on the way. Another storm is expected to hit the mountains during Memorial Day Weekend and, in some areas, is forecast to last through the end of the month. During May, snowmelt is typically the cause of rising reservoirs. But this year, the wave of snowmelt flowing down NorCal waterways may not come until late-June.

Water officials are keeping a close eye on water levels and releasing water at high rates in order to avoid flooding. But with already high reservoir levels, increased flows could mean flooding on rivers and streams. On top of that, the brand-new Oroville Dam spillway may need to be used for the second time this year, putting locals near the lake on high-alert.

Lake Oroville is nearly full. Photo: Explore Butte County

“I’m very concerned about the lake levels,” District 1 Supervisor Bill Connelly said Tuesday during the Department of Water Resources Board of Supervisors meeting. “Lake Oroville is being run in an antiquated and linear matter. (DWR’s) priority seems to be water delivery instead of public safety. We need to move into the next century. We’ve had warm rain on snow before, and if we have warm rain on snow right now, it would be one of the worst disasters in the history in the state.”

The DWR remain adamant that it has no plans to release more water from the Oroville Dam spillway, a claim that has locals skeptical.

The winter, and subsequent wet spring, of 2019 has been great to relieve Northern California of its drought and qualm fears of another historic fire season. But how much water is too much? We may find out soon enough

These are the current lake levels.