Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation

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RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - cctop - 05-23-2023

The last few paragraphs of that Fresno Bee article are interesting. Allowing excess water to soak back into the aquifer is an obvious idea, but I never thought about the physical need to move the water where you want it. I suppose I thought there was all one giant aquifer under the Central Valley:

That involves flooding empty fields with water and letting it soak into water tables that have been depleted by overpumping during years of drought....Some water agencies would be able to take more water — as much as 50,000 more acre-feet, he added — but they don’t have the necessary infrastructure, including pumps, to move the water to areas where it can best be allowed to soak back into the ground. Gosselin said the state is working to provide pumps for local irrigation districts....."In terms of diversion, if the pumps current and planned run for four months, approximately 192,000 acre-feet will have been diverted “ from Tulare Lake, Gosselin added.

Read more at: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/water-and-drought/article275677201.html#storylink=cpy

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - WindyCityCard - 05-23-2023

(05-23-2023, 03:14 PM)cctop Wrote: The last few paragraphs of that Fresno Bee article are interesting. Allowing excess water to soak back into the aquifer is an obvious idea, but I never thought about the physical need to move the water where you want it. I suppose I thought there was all one giant aquifer under the Central Valley:

That involves flooding empty fields with water and letting it soak into water tables that have been depleted by overpumping during years of drought....Some water agencies would be able to take more water — as much as 50,000 more acre-feet, he added — but they don’t have the necessary infrastructure, including pumps, to move the water to areas where it can best be allowed to soak back into the ground. Gosselin said the state is working to provide pumps for local irrigation districts....."In terms of diversion, if the pumps current and planned run for four months, approximately 192,000 acre-feet will have been diverted “ from Tulare Lake, Gosselin added.

Read more at: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/water-and-drought/article275677201.html#storylink=cpy

One of the leading experts in the world on this (and as far as I know _the_ leading expert) is Stanford Geophysics Prof. Rosemary Knight, who has led a team that developed the technology to do detailed hydrological mapping, including in the Central Valley: https://earth.stanford.edu/people/rosemary-knight

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - Leftcoast - 05-24-2023

(05-23-2023, 07:49 PM)WindyCityCard Wrote: One of the leading experts in the world on this (and as far as I know _the_ leading expert) is Stanford Geophysics Prof. Rosemary Knight, who has led a team that developed the technology to do detailed hydrological mapping, including in the Central Valley: https://earth.stanford.edu/people/rosemary-knight

In an earlier response I provided a link to a (light) overview of some of Knight's recent work on mapping groundwater recharge pathways. In case you missed it ...

https://news.stanford.edu/2021/06/15/finding-sweet-spots-managed-aquifer-recharge/

RE: Palo Alto Flooding - Mick - 06-16-2023

(04-11-2023, 11:49 AM)Mick Wrote: RESSW.pdf (ca.gov)

Reservoir capacity updated for June 15 (using threepointer's scale). Most are up significantly as the snowmelt begins in earnest, only three had declined. There were lots of changes in the last two months. Listed with % of Average to date:

Large (1 MM+ AF):
Oroville, 100% / 128%
Shasta, 97% / 119%
Pine Flat, 61% / 89%
San Luis, 99% / 159%
New Melones, 81% / 130%
Trinity, 57% / 73%
Don Pedro, 82% / 101%
New Exchequer/Lake McClure, 81% / 117%
Berryessa, 85% / 104%
Almanor, 84% / 110%

Medium (300k - 999k AF, where available)
Folsom, 94% / 118%
New Bullards, 99% / 113%
Diamond Valley, 72% / 96%
Indian Valley, 66% / 119%
Friant, 61% / 75%
Isabella, 80% / 164%
Lake San Antonio, 70% / 122%
Lake Tahoe/Tahoe City, 80% / 152%
Nacimiento, 91% / 157%
Camanche, 76% / 108%
Warm Springs, 68% / 111%
New Hogan, 74% / 140%
Castaic, 97% / 111%
Clear Lake/Cache Creek, 86% / 122%

SF Bay Reservoirs (and of local interest, where available)
Hetch Hetchy, 83% / 93%
Calaveras, 95% / 184%
Del Valle, 51% / 101%
U San Leandro, 99% / 114%
San Pablo, 76% / 105%
Chabot, 90% / 103%
Briones, 86% / 104%
Lexington Reservoir, 95% / 151%
Clifton Court Forebay, 59%
San Antonio Reservoir, 108% / 119%
Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir, 79% / 106%

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - martyup - 06-16-2023

It's been a long time since Shasta was full. Awesome.

RE: Palo Alto Flooding - Mick - 07-03-2023

(04-11-2023, 11:49 AM)Mick Wrote: RESSW.pdf (ca.gov)

Reservoir capacity updated for June 15 (using threepointer's scale). Most are up significantly as the snowmelt begins in earnest, only three had declined. There were lots of changes in the last two months. Listed with % of Average to date:

Large (1 MM+ AF):
Oroville, 99% / 131%
Shasta, 94% / 121%
Pine Flat, 80% / 119%
San Luis, 97% / 177%
New Melones, 85% / 135%
Trinity, 58% / 76%
Don Pedro, 87% / 105%
New Exchequer/Lake McClure, 89% / 126%
Berryessa, 84% / 105%
Almanor, 85% / 111%

Medium (300k - 999k AF, where available)
Folsom, 95% / 123%
New Bullards, 99% / 115%
Diamond Valley, 74% / 99%
Indian Valley, 63% / 120%
Friant, 84% / 102%
Isabella, 80% / 164%
Lake San Antonio, 70% / 122%
Lake Tahoe/Tahoe City, 85% / 157%
Nacimiento, 88% / 158%
Camanche, 91% / 124%
Warm Springs, 67% / 112%
New Hogan, 72% / 141%
Castaic, 95% / 110%
Clear Lake/Cache Creek, 78% / 122%

SF Bay Reservoirs (and of local interest, where available)
Hetch Hetchy, 92% / 95%
Calaveras, 94% / 186%
Del Valle, 51% / 102%
U San Leandro, 99% / 114%
San Pablo, 73% / 103%
Chabot, 89% / 103%
Briones, 86% / 105%
Lexington Reservoir, 91% / 155%
San Antonio Reservoir, 107% / 118%
Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir, 79% / 107%

All of the large reservoirs except Berryessa, Almanor and Shasta had significant increases. Camanche, Hetch Hetchy and Friant took a big jump.

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - threepointer - 07-13-2023

I think that we have hit the high water mark for the California reservoir system for this year. Today 34 of the 48 reservoirs on the California Department of Water Resources are showing outflows.

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=RES

Reservoir % of capacity
6 > 100% of capacity
28 > 90% of capacity
4   > 80% of capacity
6 > 70% of capacity
4 > 60% of capacity
1 > 50% of capacity
48 = 89% of capacity

The overall system is lower on a % of capacity measure because the third largest reservoir, Trinity, is at 58% of capacity. Trinity has 8.5% of the total capacity of the 48 reservoirs (1.4 million acre feet).

Why is Trinity so low?  This article is a couple of months old, but it provides some context.
https://www.redding.com/story/news/2023/05/15/why-shasta-lake-is-nearly-full-but-trinity-dams-water-level-is-so-low/70204088007/

leftcoast - Leftcoast - 07-20-2023

Latest status at Friant Dam and Pine Flat, two important flood control dams in the California’s Central Valley.

Water is spilling over the spillways for both locations with water levels at or near 100% but local officials seem confident they are near peak runoff and have plenty of allowance built into their forecasted models.

Some fun pictures of rare spillway releases here but there’s better videos from local Fresno news stations if you Google “Millerton Lake News”

https://news.yahoo.com/two-dams-near-fresno-spilling-194500817.html

RE: Palo Alto Flooding - Mick - 07-21-2023

(07-03-2023, 09:57 AM)Mick Wrote: RESSW.pdf (ca.gov)

Reservoir capacity updated for July 21 (using threepointer's scale). Listed with % of Average to date:

Large (1 MM+ AF):
Oroville, 98% / 136%
Shasta, 91% / 123%
Pine Flat, 94% / 159%
San Luis, 95% / 192%
New Melones, 86% / 140%
Trinity, 58% / 78%
Don Pedro, 95% / 118%
New Exchequer/Lake McClure, 95% / 138%
Berryessa, 83% / 105%
Almanor, 84% / 112%

Medium (300k - 999k AF, where available)
Folsom, 93% / 130%
New Bullards, 96% / 116%
Diamond Valley, 75% / 99%
Indian Valley, 61% / 120%
Friant, 100% / 131%
Isabella, 93% / 201%
Lake San Antonio, 69% / 128%
Lake Tahoe/Tahoe City, 88% / 165%
Nacimiento, 84% / 159%
Camanche, 95% / 133%
Warm Springs, 66% / 112%
New Hogan, 70% / 143%
Castaic, 95% / 110%
Clear Lake/Cache Creek, 78% / 122%

SF Bay Reservoirs (and of local interest, where available)
Hetch Hetchy, 96% / 100%
Calaveras, 93% / 189%
Del Valle, 51% / 101%
U San Leandro, 99% / 116%
San Pablo, 72% / 105%
Chabot, 89% / 103%
Briones, 86% / 105%
Lexington Reservoir, 88% / 157%
San Antonio Reservoir, 107% / 118%
Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir, 77% / 108%

brobdingnagian increase at Pine Flat, Friant, Isabella. Large increase at Lake McClure, Camanche, Hetch Hetchy. Season-to-date increases at most reservoirs, a few minor decreases in existing % of capacity. Didn't see any declines in season to date numbers.

RE: Palo Alto Flooding - Mick - 08-18-2023

(07-21-2023, 09:33 AM)Mick Wrote: RESSW.pdf (ca.gov)

I've read that this is an El Nino year, which usually means less rainfall than normal. We've had La Nina conditions (water more than 3 degrees Celsius colder) since 2020, which is highly unusual and likely led to the increased precipitation in California that ended our drought (temporarily, anyway).

El Niño: What to expect from the weather event in 2023 | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

Reservoir capacity updated for August 18 (using threepointer's scale). Listed with % of Average to date:

Large (1 MM+ AF):
Oroville, 86% / 137%
Shasta, 81% / 126%
Pine Flat, 88% / 216%
San Luis, 87% / 214%
New Melones, 82% / 140%
Trinity, 56% / 82%
Don Pedro, 92% / 123%
New Exchequer/Lake McClure, 95% / 138%
Berryessa, 83% / 105%
Almanor, 84% / 112%

Medium (300k - 999k AF, where available)
Folsom, 81% / 136%
New Bullards, 80% / 111%
Diamond Valley, 79% / 105%
Indian Valley, 54% / 119%
Friant, 78% / 131%
Isabella, 87% / 232%
Lake San Antonio, 68% / 133%
Lake Tahoe/Tahoe City, 83% / 175%
Nacimiento, 74% / 159%
Camanche, 88% / 133%
Warm Springs, 64% / 112%
New Hogan, 66% / 148%
Castaic, 94% / 110%
Clear Lake/Cache Creek, 78% / 122%

SF Bay Reservoirs (and of local interest, where available)
Hetch Hetchy, 100% / 110%
Calaveras, 92% / 195%
Del Valle, 52% / 105%
U San Leandro, 97% / 118%
San Pablo, 65% / 101%
Chabot, 86% / 103%
Briones, 85% / 106%
Lexington Reservoir, 78% / 163%
San Antonio Reservoir, 106% / 118%
Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir, 73% / 107%

All of the large reservoirs and most of the mid-sized reservoirs show reduced % of capacity, but higher % of average at this time of year.

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - Softball Fan - 08-18-2023

I live in Orange county. Tropical storm headed to SoCal on Sunday. Forecast for 2" of rain along the coast and up to 6" inland. Possible hurricane level winds. County operations already happening in many areas to provide sand bags.

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - Mick - 08-30-2023

(08-18-2023, 12:08 PM)paloalto Wrote: I live in Orange county. Tropical storm headed to SoCal on Sunday. Forecast for 2" of rain along the coast and up to 6" inland. Possible hurricane level winds. County operations already happening in many areas to provide sand bags.

After Hilary, most of the state is drought free, just 6% is in drought conditions. Doesn't sound like we captured much of the water, and our aquifers -- and aquifers nationwide -- remain under stress.

California is now practically drought-free, but we keep wasting so much rainwater

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - M T - 08-30-2023

(08-30-2023, 06:19 AM)Mick Wrote: After Hilary, most of the state is drought free, just 6% is in drought conditions. Doesn't sound like we captured much of the water, and our aquifers -- and aquifers nationwide -- remain under stress.

California is now practically drought-free, but we keep wasting so much rainwater

And, for a different view of the elephant,
https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/hilary-drought-california-18310957.php
"Now only 1.38% of California is experiencing moderate or worse drought" The 6.7% number is for "abnormally dry" (drought).

Orange County captured 10,500 acre-feet of water. It filled half of the allowable stormwater capture behind Prado Dam, which apparent is pumped back into the aquifer storage. "It’s a lot of water, it’s unprecedented at least back to the 1930s." By this article, that's enough water for 100,000 people for a year.

In the "wasting" link above, the article (credited to the L.A. Times) says LA County captured 10,000 acre-feet of water, enough for 40,000 households for a year. I guess 40,000 households = 100,000 people roughly

"However that 10,000 acre-feet only makes up about 7% of the water the city has captured since October,"
"County-operated spreading grounds, of which there more than two dozen, captured approximately 8,600 acre-feet of stormwater during Hilary's storms...... that amounts to less than 2% of the county's stormwater captured since October."
L.A. County and L.A. city are different. So I guess the two collected 18,600 a.f. in Hilary, and 143,000 + 430,000 = 573,000 a.f. since October. That's enough water for 2.3M households or 5.46M people for a year.

No doubt we have the technology to pump the aquifers dry. It is a matter of policy(etc) whether we do or not. According to the state, 43% of the groundwater wells are below normal while 25% are above normal. (IMO, such statistics are potentially misleading because it is "number of wells" versus "water demand vs supply")

Btw, on the above DWR page, I couldn't get to some dashboards by their graphic links. But I could go to the 20-year trends dashboard, and then get to other dashboards.

RE: Palo Alto Flooding - Mick - 09-14-2023

(08-18-2023, 08:42 AM)Mick Wrote: RESSW.pdf (ca.gov)

Reservoir capacity updated for September 14 (using threepointer's scale). Listed with % of Average to date:

Large (1 MM+ AF):
Oroville, 79% / 138%
Shasta, 77% / 129%
Pine Flat, unk% / unk%
San Luis, 85% / 218%
New Melones, 80% / 140%
Trinity, 54% / 84%
Don Pedro, 88% / 123%
New Exchequer/Lake McClure, 79% / 145%
Berryessa, 79% / 106%
Almanor, 76% / 112%

Medium (300k - 999k AF, where available)
Folsom, 73% / 134%
New Bullards, 75% / 113%
Diamond Valley, 81% / 108%
Indian Valley, unk% / unk%
Friant, 57% / 112%
Isabella, unk% / unk%
Lake San Antonio, 67% / 137%
Lake Tahoe/Tahoe City, 81% / 189%
Nacimiento, 68% / 159%
Camanche, 87% / 137%
Warm Springs, unk% / unk%
New Hogan, unk% / unk%
Castaic, 94% / 112%
Clear Lake/Cache Creek, unk% / unk%

SF Bay Reservoirs (and of local interest, where available)
Hetch Hetchy, 100% / 116%
Calaveras, 91% / 198%
Del Valle, 50% / 106%
U San Leandro, 95% / 120%
San Pablo, 61% / 98%
Chabot, 85% / 103%
Briones, 85% / 107%
Lexington Reservoir, 78% / 163%
San Antonio Reservoir, 105% / 119%
Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir, 72% / 108%

All of the large reservoirs and most of the mid-sized reservoirs show reduced % of capacity by about 4% to 8% less than last month at this time. Most are at or higher % of average at this time of year. Smaller reservoirs, mostly unchanged.

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - Leftcoast - 09-14-2023

It's time to give the water managers some credit. They did a good job of managing reservoir capacity and reducing flooding after an epic, record-breaking snowfall year.

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - fullmetal - 09-14-2023

This might have been mentioned earlier, but how much excess (surplus) water are these dams/reservoirs rated to handle and for how long? (Thinking of Oroville Dam in 2017)

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - cardcrimson - 09-14-2023

(09-14-2023, 01:18 PM)fullmetal Wrote: This might have been mentioned earlier, but how much excess (surplus) water are these dams/reservoirs rated to handle and for how long? (Thinking of Oroville Dam in 2017)

Another wet winter would be interesting.

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - Leftcoast - 09-14-2023

That's why the "% of Average for Date" number is interesting. It looks like the water managers are slowing down the reservoir release to keep a fair amount of water back (very normal). They have months until the first heavy rainfall totals are expected and can drive that number to pretty much any number they want but are electing to instead keep an above average amount of water in storage. They are balancing between fear of another drought and capacity for a second heavy water year.

They've been burned by this before. A typical nightmare scenario would be full reservoirs and a heavy November snow followed by an early December warm southern rain. That would prompt a quick dump of water into the flood control system when it's least able to collect/moderate the runoff.

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - Mick - 09-15-2023

Can anyone summarize new strategies and projects to rebuild aquifers?

RE: Flooding, Lake Lag, California Water situation - martyup - 09-18-2023

(09-15-2023, 06:33 AM)Mick Wrote: Can anyone summarize new strategies and projects to rebuild aquifers?

That question made me feel like I was back in school getting an assignment.