Tahoe City rafters waiting for more water
By Emerson Marcus, Reno Gazette-Journal
TAHOE CITY — The serenity of river life brought Jack Simon, 22, back to Tahoe City this summer.
Simon, then an English major at DePauw University in Indiana, worked last summer as an intern for a Lake Tahoe entertainment guide. To earn extra money, he also worked as a river guide, taking rafters through the stem of the Truckee River.
“It’s the greatest job in the world,” Simon said of river rafting. “People spend a lot of money to do what I do every day.”
Simon graduated in May and two weeks later was back in Tahoe City. But since his return, the Truckee River Raft Co. has not sent one rafter down the river because of low water levels.
Simon has had to take a job at a local 7-Eleven. The lack of rafting also has hurt the economy in Tahoe City and forced many people to ask, “When are water levels going to increase?”
“I talk to the river raft people nearly every day,” said Bric Haley, manager at the River Ranch Lodge in Tahoe City. “We are always talking. We are always discussing when they are going to open the dam.”
Haley said 15 percent of reservations have canceled, primarily because of the absence of rafting.
“I have to admit, as tough as it is on the local economy here, the water master has no choice,” Haley said. “He has to do his job.”
So, what is the level of Lake Tahoe, and is it going over the dam in Tahoe City?
This story https://www.laketahoenews.net/2011/07/paddling-between-watering-holes-on-the-shore-of-lake-tahoe/ is the last time LTN reported on Lake Tahoe’s level. At that time it was stabilizing and not expected to keep rising.
Kathryn Reed, LTN publisher
I found the water level info at this site. I still couldn’t find the level of the dam, to know when water would go over the top. Maybe it never does, because they open the gates.
http://tahoe.uslakes.info/Level.asp
The “natural rim” of the lake is 6223 feet above sea level. That is the lowest level at which water will continue to spill over the dam at Tahoe City and into the Truckee River, the only outlet of the lake. The top of the dam is 6.1 feet above the natural rim
Currently the Tahoe City dam only has one gate open. Usually the commercial rafters need 3 open (from past observations); maybe just 2. Just past River Ranch the river flows really pickup b/c of Bear and Squaw Creeks. I’ve heard that Squaw Creek is a fun run to float this time of year.
Watermaster is not permitted to release additional water from Lake Tahoe until the Truckee River downstream at Floriston is less than 500 cubic feet per second. This is a Federal rule called the “Floriston rate” designed to meet dry year water demands. It doesn’t look like the river will drop to that point until mid-August.