Lake Oroville Archives

‘It’s Been Dropping Fast All Year’: Concerns Rise Over Water Levels at Lake Oroville

July 27, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Fox40by Lonnie Wong, Katelyn Stark

The drought is taking its toll on dams and rivers throughout California and there is no clearer example than at Lake Oroville where water levels have been dropping all year.

“It’s been dropping fast all year,” said fisherman Jeremiah Corlin. “It’s been slowing down, but it’s still dropping fast.”

The Oroville Dam is the state water system’s tallest, but boaters and fishermen have witnessed the water level fall nearly 250 feet below average.

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Hydro Energy Reduced as California Reservoirs Shrink

July 7, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /SJV Waterby Jesse Vad

California’s reservoirs and rivers are startlingly low, forcing many of the state’s more than 270 hydropower facilities to generate less power.

Lake Oroville, one of the state’s largest reservoirs, made headlines because its water levels have dropped so low the power plant may need to shut down for the first time. While most other hydropower plants aren’t at risk of shutting down, plants that rely on watersheds up and down the state are not able to generate normal amounts of power.

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NASA Images Show Effects of Drought on California’s Largest Reservoirs

June 23, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Press Democratby Elissa Chudwin

Satellite images recently released by NASA show how drought has affected Northern California’s Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville, the largest reservoirs in the state. NASA compared images taken earlier in June with images taken in the summer of 2019 to illustrate how water levels have declined over the two-year period.

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A California Reservoir is Expected to Fall So Low That a Hydro-Power Plant Will Shut Down for First Time

June 18, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /CNNby Alexandra Meeks

Water in a key California reservoir will fall so low this summer that its hydroelectric power plant will be forced to shut down for the first time, officials said Thursday, straining the state’s already-taxed electric grid. An unrelenting drought and record heat, both worsened by the changing climate, have pushed the water supply at Northern California’s Lake Oroville to deplete rapidly.

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Stunning Drone Photos over Lake Oroville Show Drought Emergency in Northern California

April 29, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles Timesby By Robert St. John (L.A. Times) and Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)

Stunning drone photographs of Lake Oroville help illustrate the drought emergency declared by Gov. Gavin Newsom in two Northern California counties. Water levels at Lake Oroville have dropped to 42% of its 3,537,577 acre foot capacity.

Conditions are particularly acute in Mendocino and Sonoma counties because the local water supply depends on rainfall in the Russian River watershed.

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Once Again, Lake Oroville and Other Reservoirs are at Drought Emergency Levels

March 18, 2021/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /SFistby Jay Barmann

If you were around here in 2014 or 2015, you were likely inundated with images of dried up reservoirs that looked like dirt canyons with little ponds in them, when a punishing drought forced the state to institute restrictions on water usage. Well, we’re likely headed for another summer of dried-up lawns (and wildfires) if Mother Nature continues to withhold the rain and snow that we need to make up for a super-dry November, December, and February.

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Then and Now: A ‘Megadrought’ in California

March 4, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /BBC Newsby Mark Kinver

This year is likely to be critically dry for California. Winter storms that dumped heavy snow and rain across the state are not expected to be substantial enough to counterbalance drought conditions.

Lake Oroville plays a key role in California’s complex water delivery system.

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Water Managers Urge Patience After Initial, 10% Allocation from State Water Project

December 4, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

The rainy season is still young, but that’s about the only consolation to be found in California’s initial estimate this week that farmers who get water from the State Water Project will only get 10 percent of their requested allocations next year. This marks the third consecutive year the initial estimate has been that low.

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Report: Oroville Dam Safe, but Still Vulnerable

November 10, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /KRCR (Redding, Calif.)by Austin Herbaugh

It appears that repair work on the Oroville Dam’s damaged spillways has paid off.

A team of experts released their findings Monday, concluding that no urgent repairs are needed right now on the Oroville Dam. The report goes on to say that the largest earthen dam in America is safe to operate. However, the Oroville Dam is not completely in the clear.

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State Water Project Allocation Increased

January 29, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Mountain Democrat (Placerville, Calif.)

The California Department of Water Resources announced Friday an increase in 2020 State Water Project allocations to 15 percent of requested supplies, up from the year’s initial 10 percent allocation announced on Dec. 2.

Allocations are reviewed monthly based on snowpack and runoff information and are typically finalized by May, according to DWR officials.

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