Reservoir Fillage

I was hunting with a guy from DWR this last weekend, and they are pumping more right now than they have in six years to handle the runoff. Plus, the lakes are still discharging at a good clip. I would think, unless a great deal more precip is forecast for the year, that they would want to hold back water to regain lake levels. Blows my mind.

Vasona is at 101% What more could you ask for?

...to be able to use my own yak there

Nice shot of water we're getting, but I can't help but wonder what's going on with the salmon redds in the river.  Anyone have any idea?

-Allen

Probably blown out! If it wasn't for hatchery fish, prob wouldn't be many smolts this spring would be my guess, but it is just that........a guess.

I was hunting with a guy from DWR this last weekend, and they are pumping more right now than they have in six years to handle the runoff. Plus, the lakes are still discharging at a good clip. I would think, unless a great deal more precip is forecast for the year, that they would want to hold back water to regain lake levels. Blows my mind.

Pumping a lot of water from the canal up into San Luis.  In the past month, San Luis has risen over 260K acre feet.  To put that in perspective, that's more water than Lake Sonoma holds, and almost 4X the amount Mendo holds.  Still, San Luis has a long ways to go before filling up.

-Allen

You are right, into San Luis. I forgot about that. For some reason I was thinking straight south to a swimming pool. Thanks for pointing that out sir!

Nice shot of water we're getting, but I can't help but wonder what's going on with the salmon redds in the river.  Anyone have any idea?

-Allen

Good question, here is another one, if we had those two new reservoirs/dams mentioned in the water proposition that passed they would be filling those up right now also. How many years and billions is that going to be?

The Sites res is supposed to be filled by a tunnel from Shasta. If Shasta is close to empty then that new expensive dam is going to be lonely and dry.........

Nice shot of water we're getting, but I can't help but wonder what's going on with the salmon redds in the river.  Anyone have any idea?

-Allen

Good question, here is another one, if we had those two new reservoirs/dams mentioned in the water proposition that passed they would be filling those up right now also. How many years and billions is that going to be?

Weren't you in the yes camp ? What's the plan?

I was hunting with a guy from DWR this last weekend, and they are pumping more right now than they have in six years to handle the runoff. Plus, the lakes are still discharging at a good clip. I would think, unless a great deal more precip is forecast for the year, that they would want to hold back water to regain lake levels. Blows my mind.

There is a "flood pool" that must be maintained until a date set for each res. This means that generally, the reservoirs must bee kept at or below a certain level until sometime in February.

Most of these dams were built with "flood protection" as the number one priority, water supply is a close second, but secondary none the less.


basically, very few if any large reservoirs will recover in a single season and the over allocation of water supply helps ensure that it will take longer than makes sense...

I was hunting with a guy from DWR this last weekend, and they are pumping more right now than they have in six years to handle the runoff. Plus, the lakes are still discharging at a good clip. I would think, unless a great deal more precip is forecast for the year, that they would want to hold back water to regain lake levels. Blows my mind.

There is a "flood pool" that must be maintained until a date set for each res. This means that generally, the reservoirs must bee kept at or below a certain level until sometime in February.

Most of these dams were built with "flood protection" as the number one priority, water supply is a close second, but secondary none the less.


basically, very few if any large reservoirs will recover in a single season and the over allocation of water supply helps ensure that it will take longer than makes sense...

I only partially buy this.  This explains why they would never be completely full at this point in the year, however most reservoirs are still below the average for this time of year.

-Allen

I was hunting with a guy from DWR this last weekend, and they are pumping more right now than they have in six years to handle the runoff. Plus, the lakes are still discharging at a good clip. I would think, unless a great deal more precip is forecast for the year, that they would want to hold back water to regain lake levels. Blows my mind.

There is a "flood pool" that must be maintained until a date set for each res. This means that generally, the reservoirs must bee kept at or below a certain level until sometime in February.

Most of these dams were built with "flood protection" as the number one priority, water supply is a close second, but secondary none the less.


basically, very few if any large reservoirs will recover in a single season and the over allocation of water supply helps ensure that it will take longer than makes sense...

I only partially buy this.  This explains why they would never be completely full at this point in the year, however most reservoirs are still below the average for this time of year.

-Allen

All I can say i that every storm is modeled, storms on the horizon are modeled, and statistical analysis done to determine how much water to hold or release based on rules and regulations laid out in reservoir operations documents.  From the first storm until May, the guys/gals at BOR and DWR work very long days trying to get it right.

I was hunting with a guy from DWR this last weekend, and they are pumping more right now than they have in six years to handle the runoff. Plus, the lakes are still discharging at a good clip. I would think, unless a great deal more precip is forecast for the year, that they would want to hold back water to regain lake levels. Blows my mind.

There is a "flood pool" that must be maintained until a date set for each res. This means that generally, the reservoirs must bee kept at or below a certain level until sometime in February.

Most of these dams were built with "flood protection" as the number one priority, water supply is a close second, but secondary none the less.


basically, very few if any large reservoirs will recover in a single season and the over allocation of water supply helps ensure that it will take longer than makes sense...

I only partially buy this.  This explains why they would never be completely full at this point in the year, however most reservoirs are still below the average for this time of year.

-Allen

All I can say i that every storm is modeled, storms on the horizon are modeled, and statistical analysis done to determine how much water to hold or release based on rules and regulations laid out in reservoir operations documents.  From the first storm until May, the guys/gals at BOR and DWR work very long days trying to get it right.

So we got nothing to worry about, right?  Come June all the reservoirs will be filled, according to those models.  Wanna bet?   

-Allen

I was hunting with a guy from DWR this last weekend, and they are pumping more right now than they have in six years to handle the runoff. Plus, the lakes are still discharging at a good clip. I would think, unless a great deal more precip is forecast for the year, that they would want to hold back water to regain lake levels. Blows my mind.

There is a "flood pool" that must be maintained until a date set for each res. This means that generally, the reservoirs must bee kept at or below a certain level until sometime in February.

Most of these dams were built with "flood protection" as the number one priority, water supply is a close second, but secondary none the less.


basically, very few if any large reservoirs will recover in a single season and the over allocation of water supply helps ensure that it will take longer than makes sense...

I only partially buy this.  This explains why they would never be completely full at this point in the year, however most reservoirs are still below the average for this time of year.

-Allen

All I can say i that every storm is modeled, storms on the horizon are modeled, and statistical analysis done to determine how much water to hold or release based on rules and regulations laid out in reservoir operations documents.  From the first storm until May, the guys/gals at BOR and DWR work very long days trying to get it right.

So we got nothing to worry about, right?  Come June all the reservoirs will be filled, according to those models.  Wanna bet?   

-Allen

lol, you misunderstand. 
The chance of full reservoirs is very very slim this year, the rules governing storage have no objectives related to filling the reservoirs, rather the objectives are meeting flood control and contracted amounts based on meteorological measurements and predictions.  In fact, if the snow pack were large enough and melted slow enough, the reservoirs would rarely exceed 3/4 full and water contracts would be met to 90% or better.
Think of the reservoirs less like banks and more like lines of credit.  Put water in, take water out, but try not to take out more than is put in.  of course, in a drought the credit taken exceeds credit given.  When the reservoirs do manage to fill up, thats just luck, but the general person thinks that they are supposed to be full, and water users prey on that misconception...

Some people around Redding crack me up with their "Keep Shasta Full" bumper stickers, thinking that because Shasta is in their backyard they can demand that all the water be kept here for recreation. However it is frustrating that people on a water grid here had to cut their water usage back 70-80% or have their bill double and triple and quadruple, and people down south didn't have water restrictions.