New research from the California Department of Water Resources reveals that over 56 years, Lake Oroville's capacity has decreased by almost 113,000 acre-feet, or more than 36 billion gallons, due to sediment settling on the reservoir floor.
DWR's data will aid in better water allocation and storage management, though the 3% capacity drop shouldn't significantly affect allocations. The sediment buildup, mainly from the Feather River, was more pronounced in the lake's deepest areas.
Advanced technology like lidar and sonar was used to precisely measure Lake Oroville's capacity decline, a significant improvement over the less accurate methods employed during the lake's original mapping in the 1960s.
#lake-oroville #california-department-of-water-resources #sediment-buildup #water-allocation #reservoir-management
Collection
[
|
...
]