Folsom Lake holds about , acre feet of water. The light blue shaded is the historical average storage throughout the year. If you add up the massive amounts of water the dam operators have released over the past 3 months, it totals over 1,, acre feet of water. In other words, the reason the lake is so low, is because the dam operators are doing their job and preventing massive flooding to the half million plus residents of the valley region.
The new spillway nearing completion should be operational before the year is out, and in the future, the dam operators will be able to hold more water for longer periods, which will be helpful in drier years, but they may never allow it to fill up in February.
So, the next time you hear someone complaining that the incompetent dam operators are wasting water, you can set them straight. However, prior to this event, the outflows have been under 1, cfs since November, excluding the early December event. The outflows in , March — April, are higher than in , but they are fall below the levels. A quick estimate is that the outflows are about cfs higher than , and 3, cfs less than The daily point for the outflow maximum does not capture the whole story.
The maximum outflow is not continuous for 24 hours. The inflow maximum peak is not continuous. Both fluctuate throughout the day. For the inflow, there are other reservoirs upstream that are discharging water in to Folsom Lake. On the outflow side for power generation, the peak outflow may only be for a couple of hours.
Therefore, it is spurious to extrapolate a peak outflow data point that is higher than a peak inflow number and declare that more water has been released than has flowed in to the reservoir. When taken cumulatively, more water may have poured in to Folsom Lake over 24 hours than was released with a higher rate outflow for a couple of hours. There are other diversions from Folsom Lake to make pointing to power generation outflows as the sole source of a decreasing lake level nonsensical.
Evaporation from the lake surface can easily be. Outflows for power production are only part of the equation as to why Folsom Lake level is not rising as fast as recreational enthusiasts would like.
Operations at Folsom Dam are governed by a myriad of rules pertaining to minimum necessary flows in the lower American River, Sacramento River, Delta, releases from other reservoirs, and demands for electricity. If the Bureau of Reclamation wanted to keep Folsom Lake levels low, they did not have to work very hard. The lake is low because the precipitation in the watershed that feeds the reservoir is below average. The outflows that are higher than the similar period in may be connected to the higher temperatures this Spring and the higher demand for electricity.
If the conspiracy theorists really believe there is some agreement between the Bureau of Reclamation and El Dorado Irrigation District to keep the lake level low, I suggest they file a Freedom of Information Act request for all correspondence between the two entities to uncover the nefarious plot.
CA LIC. Focusing on families, individuals, self employed and small business. I blog on several topics to provide consumer information for people who have questions about health insurance and the Affordable Care Act. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options. A peninsula is exposed as water levels recede at drought-stricken Folsom Lake in California.
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