Water Low At Folsom Lake, Not Any More! Threatened Dam Break!!

[Serious News]

The ongoing effort to keep Sacramento on the H1 Unlimited schedule for 2014 has met a serious roadblock. Projections for Folsom Lake have water levels this spring too low to accomodate the race course and pit area.

A story in the Sunday edition of the Sacramento Bee says -

Plan for a dry 2014 – so parched that extraordinary measures are needed now.

California depends on a few winter storms in the Sierra Nevada between October and April for its water supplies, and they just haven’t happened. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is only 20 percent of normal, as reported by the state Department of Water Resources on Friday. The last time California’s statewide snowpack was this dry was in 2012, when it also was 20 percent of normal.

The situation in our region already is dire for communities that depend on American River water stored in Folsom Reservoir, which is at 19 percent of capacity. This immediately affects more than 500,000 people, including those living in Folsom, Roseville and Granite Bay.

The San Juan Water District, which serves 265,000 customers in Granite Bay and portions of Roseville, Folsom and Orangevale, has issued an urgent report. If current trends continue, water levels at Folsom Reservoir will drop below intake pipes by April or May. That is, those pipes will be sucking air.

More Information Here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/01/05/6044996/editorial-water-situation-is-dire.html

[Ratickle]

http://youtu.be/EXAhtuCC1P4

[Serious News]

FOLSOM, Calif. (KCRA) —The water level at Folsom Lake rose at least 8 feet Sunday, thanks to heavy rainfall that steadily fell throughout the region.

Officials with the Department of Water Resources said Folsom Lake appeared to be 8 feet higher on Sunday afternoon than it did early Sunday morning.

Just last week, there was so little water flowing into the lake, it set a record.

http://www.kcra.com/news/folsom-lake-water-level-rises/24380284

[Serious News]

This should help, today's forecast through Saturday.

78039

78040

[Serious News]

Water level has increased 30' with rain in the forecast at over 60% for the next 7 days.

Lowest Level - 02/06/2014 08:00 356.91
Current Level - 02/27/2014 04:00 386.02

Folsom Lake, CA 10 Day Forecast

27
Thu
64°/52°
90 % precip Showers

Fri
57°/49°
98 % precip Rain

Sat
65°/47°
80 % precip Showers

Sun
63°/49°
70 % precip Mostly Cloudy

Mon
60°/52°
85 % precip Mostly Cloudy

Tue
66°/48°
65 % precip Mostly Cloudy

Wed
65°/51°
60 % precip Partly Cloudy

Thu
62°/46°
85 % precip Rain

Fri
66°/46°
20 % precip Partly Cloudy

Sat
70°/49°
10 % precip Sunny (Clear)

[Serious News]

78050


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/02/27/desperately-dry-southern-california-to-get-deluged/

[Serious News]

Lake level up another 5'. If it hits 400', they will remove the 5mph lakewide speed limit.

03/04/2014 04:00 391.79

[Serious News]

Officials of H1 Unlimited, the series that brought Unlimited Hydroplane racing back to Sacramento in 2013 after a 45 year absence, have announced that the low water level in Folsom Lake has forced them to abandon plans to return in 2014.

In a brief statement, H1 Chairman Sam Cole, a Sacramento resident said, “It is very disappointing to have to abandon our effort to return in 2014. The response we got from fans and the Sacramento media during our return last season was very positive and we were encouraged by discussions with potential promoters and sponsors we had about racing in Sacramento again in 2014.”

78113
Folsom Ramp in 2013

78114
The Same Folsom Ramp 2014

Cole added, “It’s not about Folsom Lake being too shallow, it is literally too small to accommodate our pit area and a two-mile race course, but we will continue with our planning and hope for better conditions for a return in 2015.”

In the race held in May of 2013, Unlimited Hydroplanes reached speeds nearing 200 mph on the lake in the event won by veteran driver Steve David of Lighthouse Point, Florida in the 1 Oh Boy! Oberto. David retired as one of the winningest drivers in the history of the sport following the season.

Cole concluded, “Again, we want to thank the Sacramento area sponsors, media and fans for the tremendous welcome back we got last season and we will continue the effort to return again in the future when conditions allow.”

http://www.h1unlimited.com/category/news/h1-news/

[Serious News]

Over the 400' level.

Boaters converge on slowly rising Folsom Lake
5 mph speed limit lifted

03/16/2014 04:00 402.68

http://www.kcra.com/news/boaters-converge-on-slowly-rising-folsom-lake/24985712

Since early February, a couple moderate storms have caused the lake to rise more than 45 feet.

[Serious News]

Drought-ravaged Folsom Lake rises 28.5 feet in just one month
Amy Graff Published 5:40 am, Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Water-starved Folsom Lake is beginning to slowly fill up and recover from its lowest water levels ever.

The state's ninth-largest reservoir, the main water source for the sprawling Sacramento suburbs, shrank to a mere 135,561 acre feet on Dec. 4, 2015. The previous lowest level at Folsom was 140,600 acre feet, recorded during the 1976–77 drought. An acre foot is enough water to flood an acre of land under a foot of water, and roughly the amount required by a family of four over a year.

With the recent rains, Folsom's water level has risen 28.5 feet and the reservoir is now holding 246,497 acre feet of water.

"The lake continues to slowly rise," Karl Swanberg, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, said in an interview. "While this current storm isn't dropping a lot of rain on Folsom, we're getting runoff from the Sierra from past storms and some snow melt."

The Central Sierra snow pack is at 107 percent of average and the American River, which feeds into Folsom, travels through these mountains.

That said, Swanberg adds the lake is still only at 25 percent capacity. "It's kind of a good news, bad news situation," he said. "The lake has risen 28.5 feet in the past month. However it's still at 51 percent of average for this time of year."

Entire Article and Video: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Water-starved-Folsom-Lake-is-finally-starting-to-6738359.php

[Serious News]

Emergency spillway could fail; evacuations ordered

Oroville >> Widespread evacuations were ordered Sunday afternoon after erosion raised fears the emergency spillway at Oroville Dam could fail.

Water stopped flowing over the emergency spillway by 8:30 p.m., according to Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea, as the lake level dropped below its top.

The flow through the broken main spillway was increased to 100,000 cubic-feet per second in an effort to lower the water level in the lake more rapidly, even though it would likely further erode the spillway that started crumbling Tuesday.

The Department of Water Resources said about 3 p.m. Sunday a head-cut appeared in the soil downhill from the emergency spillway, and appeared to be spreading upward toward the structure.

If the emergency spillway structure were undercut by the enlarging hole, it could fail, and the water behind that barrier would come down the hill into the Diversion Pool and down the Feather River.

With that possibility, and “an abundance of caution,” Sheriff Kory Honea about 4 p.m. ordered the evacuation of downtown Oroville and other low-lying areas downstream. Yuba and Sutter counties followed suit.

An evacuation information center has been set up to answer questions: 530-872-5951.

Emergency operations centers as far south of Sacramento have been notified, said Bud Englund, a public information officer for the incident.

Reporter Andre Byik said Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol converted the southbound lanes of Highway 70 into northbound lanes for some distance through Oroville to expedite the evacuation as people in Oroville were told to go north toward Chico or east into the foothills.

Byik said except for the crowded roads, Oroville looked liked a ghost town.

The Sheriff’s Office reported helicopters deposited rock-filled containers in the hole to strengthen the potential failure point, and DWR says the erosion has slowed.

Evacuation centers

An evacuation center has been set up at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds and Neighborhood Church in Chico and the Glenn County Fairgrounds in Orland. Black Butte Lake west of Orland has also opened up the Buckhorn Campground to evacuees.
RVs can park at Chico Elks Lodge, 1705 Manzanita Ave.

Animals

Small animals can be taken with evacuees to the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds. Large animals can go to Camelot Equestrian Park, 1985 Clark Road.

Butte County Jail and Juvenile Hall are being evacuated.
Butte County Superintendent of Schools Tim Taylor has called for closure of all the schools Monday except those in the Chico and Paradise district.
All Butte County offices in Oroville closed Monday.

http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20170212/emergency-spillway-could-fail-evacuations-ordered

[Ratickle]

Amazing. Kind of reminds me of what happened in Texas a year ago with the Travis water levels. Empty to full in a few months. Hope it carries over into Powell and Mead!!

[Ratickle]

The Oroville Dam Crisis Exposes the Flaws in Trump's Infrastructure Plan

Amazing, It's Trumps fault.......:eek:

http://www.citylab.com/politics/2017/02/oroville-dam-flooding-california-infrastructure/516417/#disqus_thread