Many California lakes are shockingly low
El Dorado Beach in South Lake Tahoe on Nov. 9. Photo/LTN
By Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle
In 35 years, nobody’s seen numbers like these.
In a personal survey last week of 125 recreation lakes, 33 are under 25 percent full, and that includes 19 that are less than 10 percent full and four that are empty.
The big picture is this: On the eve of what’s forecast to be an El Niño-driven winter, it appears most of California has gone to the bank of chances and is going all-in on the hopes of a big winter of rain and snow to bail it out.
The Tahoe region provides a bleak scene, though a fast start to winter also provides hope.
Question. What was the depth of these lakes when full?
Because of the lack of depth no wonder they went dry especially if they were used for agriculture and human consumption. Lake Tahoe is down less than one percent of its depth. Maybe these lakes should have been constructed with average depths of 50 feet then they would still have plenty of water.
This article is at least six months behind. This is not a new situation by any means. Water has become very precious and should be used far more efficiently than in the past. Conservation efforts have been woefully inadequate. Let’s hope for a very wet winter. It has looked pretty good so far.
Lake Tahoe is 1,645 ft deep at its deepest point.
Does anyone know the absolute lowest Tahoe has been in our recorded history?
Robin I think it was around 6220.3 in 1992/93 almost 3 feet below the natural rim.