According to the California Department of Water Resources, the work consists of routine maintenance based on an annual inspection. DWR spokesperson Allison Armstrong said the work is expected to continue through Nov. 15.

“DWR is performing minor routine concrete and sealant repair work on localized areas of the main spillway identified during annual inspections,” Armstrong said. “While the main spillway continues to perform well and operate as designed, periodic concrete and sealant repairs of the spillway are expected due to seasonal temperature variations, spillway releases and sun exposure.”

While completion is expected in mid-November, the weather could push that goal back should operations at the dam see a change.

Complex releases from the lake totaled 7,500 cubic feet per second on Wednesday and are planned to jump to 8,000 cfs today. Estimated inflows are roughly 3,200 cfs.

At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Lake Oroville sat at 841.95 feet in water elevation. Toward the start of the summer, the lake head reached its peak at 900 feet. While the lake level has dropped considerably throughout the summer, it remains a dramatic increase compared to previous years. For this time in 2022, the lake sat at 700.98 feet which was preceded by 682.52 in 2021.

California Water Plan

DWR announced Wednesday that its draft California Water Plan update is available for public view and comes with a public comment period for residents to share their thoughts on the plan.

The comment period runs from Sept. 20-Oct. 19, 2023.

“The California Water Plan serves as an evolving blueprint for managing and developing the state’s water resources, and it is updated every five years to reflect current the state’s current water conditions and priorities,” the announcement reads.

Updates to the plan include adaptations based on climate change and water equity.

The draft’s public view can be found at water.ca.gov. Members of the public who wish to provide input can do so through DWR’s website or by emailing the comments to CWPCOM@water.ca.gov.

Additionally, comments can be mailed to Francisco Guzman with the California Department of Water Resources at 715 P Street, sixth floor in Sacramento, California with the area code 95814.

The lake reached a level that has prompted the California Department of Water Resources to let water out over the course of the past month in what the department claims is an effort to control flooding downstream.

Its new spillway gate has been utilized to do this with outflows up to 35,000 cfs. Now, as the storms settle down, only 7,500 cfs is being released from the lake, with 1,000 cfs routed into the low flow area of the Feather River through the city of Oroville and the remainder being sent through the Termalito Afterbay River Outlet roughly five miles down stream, according to an announcement by DWR.

Lake Oroville sits at 83% of its total capacity as of Friday, which is 860 feet. This translates into 2.84 million acre-feet of water. Thanks to rainfall, the lake is at 115% of its historical average for this time of year.

On April 3, DWR conducted its fourth snow survey of 2023 at Philips Station in the Sierra Nevada. DWR announced that it recorded 126.5 inches of snow with a snow water equivalent of 54 inches or 221% of the average for the location. The state as a whole, based on surveys at 130 different sensors, California is at 237% of its average to date with a snow water equivalent of 61.1 inches.

DWR Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Unit Manager Sean de Guzman weighed in on the current snowpack in California.

“This year’s result will go down as one of the largest snowpack years on record in California,” de Guzman said. “While 1952’s snow course measurements showed a similar result, there were fewer snow courses at that time, making it difficult to compare to today’s results. Because additional snow courses were added over the years, it is difficult to compare results accurately across the decades with precision, but this year’s snowpack is definitely one of the biggest the state has seen since the 1950s.”

On March 8, the spillway opened for its second time since it was built in 2018 to allow for some relief from Lake Oroville as storms piled on Northern California causing waves of heavy rain and low snow levels.

Since the opening of the spillway, DWR has released just short of 800,000 acre-feet of water, said DWR State Water Operations Manager Molly White.

“DWR has released a total of 787,417 acre-feet of water for storage management and flood control required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between March 8 and March 29,” White said.

The spillway, as of Thursday, was releasing 12,500 cfs into the Feather River but will be reduced to 10,000 on Friday. White added that the spillway will likely see use until runoff has slowed.

“The spillway will continue to be used at the current releases,” White said. “The spillway may continue to be used throughout the spring snowmelt period to manage water storage levels at Lake Oroville.”

Lake Oroville is sitting at about 857 feet based as of 4 p.m. Thursday with the maximum capacity being 900 feet. This is a significant increase when compared to 2022 when the lake was at 750 feet and even more so against 2021 which saw the lake at 722 feet on March 30.

Water allocations

DWR issued a statement Thursday that said it would be upping water allocations from 35% to 75%.

The massive jump, according to DWR, was thanks to the large Sierra Nevada snowpack and consistent winter storms. According to the statement, this equals an additional 1.7 million acre-feet to the water allocation.

“Consistent storms in late February and March have built up the Sierra snowpack to more than double the amount that California typically sees this time of year,” the statement reads. “Rainfall has also allowed for robust flows through the system, providing adequate water supply for the environment and endangered fish species while allowing the SWP to pump the maximum amount of water allowed under state and federal permits into reservoir storage south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.”

DWR Director Karla Nemeth said the department’s goal now is to store water for the possibility of drought-creating weather down the line, which California is known for and has been dealing with in recent years.

“California continues to experience weather whiplash, going from extreme drought to a series of atmospheric rivers since late December. It really demonstrates that in times of plenty, we need to move as much water into storage as is feasible,” Nemeth said. “We’ve been able to manage the system to the benefit of communities, agriculture and the environment. It’s certainly been a welcome improvement following the three driest years on record for California.”

Snowpack update

DWR staff is set to conduct yet another snowpack survey at Philips Station at 11 a.m. Monday to determine the density of the pack and its snow-water equivalent.

The department’s water supply forecasting unit manager, Sean de Guzman, will announce the measurements.

A live stream of the event will take place on DWR’s YouTube and Facebook pages.

DWR conducts these surveys early each month from January through April and sometimes later depending on the strength or weakness of the snowpack.

Initially, the spillway was opened to 15,000 cubic feet per second of water to prepare for stormy weather and snowmelt anticipated throughout the last couple of weeks with flows being turned up as high as 35,000 cfs. As of Wednesday, DWR has reduced the outflows back to 15,000 cfs.

DWR spokeswoman Raquel Borrayo said flows will likely remain at this level through Thursday.

“DWR plans to hold releases at this level into Thursday, however, that is subject to change based on weather or flood conservation guidelines set by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” Borrayo said. “The Department is closely monitoring lake inflow levels to optimize storage for flood protection while allowing for carryover storage into next year.”

This is the second time the new spillway, which was rebuilt in 2018 after the 2017 failure, has been used with the first time being in April 2019 when the department used it to relieve the lake at 25,000 cfs.

“Outflows from Lake Oroville and the main spillway have been performed as expected for flood control conservation as required by (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers),” Borrayo said. “The spillway was rebuilt to the highest engineering and safety standards and is functioning as designed.”

DWR has stated that Lake Oroville is kept at a certain level to prepare for potential flooding in particularly wet and snowy winters as a means to control Feather River downstream of the lake. The latest reports showed the lake at a water elevation of 858 feet.

Borrayo said more runoff is expected as the season continues. She added that once the rainy season ends, the lake’s storage will be optimized in line with environmental requirements as well as water contractor requirements.

DWR is conserving flood conservation space in Lake Oroville to account for continued rain and snowmelt runoff this spring. These conservation levels are set by the corps and are subject to change based on the wetness index of the Feather River watershed and continued rain and snowmelt.

“DWR is conserving flood conservation space in Lake Oroville to account for continued rain and snowmelt runoff this spring,” Borrayo said. “These conservation levels are set by (the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) and are subject to change based on the wetness index of the Feather River watershed and continued rain and snowmelt.”

According to a press release issued Monday by DWR, the reduction began at 6 p.m. Monday.

Recent inflows caused by snowmelt, runoff and rainfall have raised the lake’s water elevation considerably since December, prompting DWR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin releasing water into the Feather River from the dam’s main spillway. On Monday, the lake sat at roughly 858 feet in water elevation.

The release noted that weather could change quickly which might mean a change in the outflows as planned.

Oro Dam Boulevard East from Rusty Dusty Road to Canyon Drive will still remain closed until Tuesday, the release said. DWR suggested the alternative route of Oro Quincy Highway and Canyon Drive.

“DWR continues to monitor lake levels, weather forecasts and mountain snow levels to optimize operations for flood control, water storage and environmental protection while allowing for carryover storage into next year,” the release said.

OROVILLE — The California Department of Water Resources began releasing 15,000 cubic feet of water per second from Lake Oroville on Friday in anticipation of the incoming stormwater expected through the weekend.

Much of the release came from the dam’s rebuilt spillway as well as the Hyatt Power Plant.

Ted Craddock, deputy director of the State Water Project, spoke during a press conference in the hours leading up to the spillway release breaking down some of the numbers surrounding the storm and why DWR opened the gates. On Thursday, Craddock said DWR was expecting inflows up to 70,000 cfs but said Friday that the expectations were only up to 40,000 cfs.

“(Lake Oroville) is currently at 2.7 million acre-feet, which is an increase of 1.7 million acre-feet since Dec. 1, before the storms in December and then the current storms that we’re seeing,” Craddock said. “The lake elevation has also risen 180 feet since Dec. 1, which is currently at an elevation of about 840 feet, and 60 feet below the maximum elevation of the lake.”

During wet winters, Lake Oroville is used for flood control and space is kept for high inflows in an effort to avoid damage downstream.

“The State Water Project is closely monitoring the storms and the upcoming storms,” Craddock said. “And as of Wednesday, we began increasing releases out of Lake Oroville to preserve storage for flood protection.”

The first time the new spillway was utilized was in April 2019, when DWR let out 25,000 cfs. According to DWR, the spillway has an outflow capacity of 270,000 cfs.

Craddock said the weather will likely make for a full lake going into spring allowing for more recreation opportunities.

“We’re expecting the lake to reach full capacity for later this spring and summer which will provide opportunities for using the lake while it’s full,” Craddock said.

Weather ahead

Since Tuesday, the valley around Chico has seen roughly 0.43 inches with higher elevations such as Stirling City getting as much as 4.5 inches, said National Weather Service meteorologist Erik Kurth.

The storm system through the weekend is expected to bring up to an inch and a quarter of rain for valley areas with that number creeping up to between two and three inches for foothill areas.

“This first atmospheric system has had much of the heavier rain pushed southward but we’re still getting some showers,” Kurth said. “There will be a bit of a lull (Friday) evening and then by the early morning hours on Saturday we will see rain showers returning to the area.”

Kurth said there is some potential for thunderstorms in the southern parts of Butte County that could work toward the northern end.

In addition to weekend storms, Kurth said a second atmospheric river is expected to come through on Monday and stay through Wednesday with even more rainfall.

“The next system on Monday and Tuesday could see higher amounts such as two to three inches for Chico with four to six inches for the foothills,” Kurth said.

Kurth said there will likely be a break in the storms March 16 with a small possibility of another system next weekend, though he added that it’s still too far out to know for sure.

The Department of Water Resources tested sending water through the spillway, and it seemed to work, but the erosion around the hole was getting worse, and the bottom of the spillway was falling apart.

On Feb. 11, 2017, water began flowing over the emergency spillway, which at the time was a long concrete weir and had never been used before.

As the hillside beside the Oroville Dam continued to erode, the real crisis began Feb. 12, 2017.

Sheriff takes action

Oroville’s Dam crisis in 2017 left an indelible mark on all who were affected by the events of that day.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea felt emotionally affected by the events of the crisis.

“It is not easy to relive,” Honea said. “I was very concerned that a lot of people in my community were going to die. It frightened and traumatized our county.”

“The California Department of Water Resources expressed serious concern. Someone said it was going to be catastrophic. He said it could kill people, and that’s what I was worried about,” Honea said.

Honea said the erosion was progressing rapidly, about 30 feet per hour.

“I decided to order the evacuation after announcing I would order it in a public meeting. I asked if anyone disagreed. No one did so I ordered the evacuation. The emergency spillway had to be utlilized,” Honea said.

Honea said 180,000 people were affected by the emergency. He said it affected Butte County and also Sutter County, which the Feather River runs through downstream. An event of this magnitude had never occurred before.

“It is a pretty significant event in the history of Butte County and became a national story,” Honea said. “There was an erosion of water progressing rapidly toward the emergency spillway.”

According to Honea, the evacuation happened in the afternoon Feb. 12, 2017 but there was a whole week of escalating concerns leading up to it, beginning Feb. 7. A hole in the main spillway appeared. It was a massive hole. There was an extensive forensic report done as well as hearings and state legislature about what could have caused that. The majority of Orovillle was under evacuation.

“There was an effort on part of my staff and other law enforcement. We thought about providing shelter for people. On the California Department of Water Resources’ side there was a monumental part to keep the emergency control spillway from failing,” Honea said.

“DWR’s Acting Director Bill Croyle and his crew were doing everything they could to prevent flooding. There were ways it could be released from the reservoir. It was a critical impact on the water state project. By 3 or 4 a.m. the following day, enough water was released,” Honea said.

There was no longer any water cascading over the top of the emergency spillway.

“We made an effort to start utilizing Blackhawk helicopters which were lifting thousand pound bags of rock and sand to put in the hole and then spray with concrete to cover the structure. It was a temporary solution to abate the crisis. California spent probably a billion dollars to reconstruct the flood control outlet,” Honea said.

According to Honea, billions of dollars were spent to repair the spillway to regulate the water. The water was high enough to do that.

A concrete apron was built under the emergency spillway, which DWR says will prevent erosion should the emergency spillway need to be used again.

“This event for Oroville and Butte County was like our Sept. 11,” Honea said. “The impact was felt locally and regionally.”

Honea said a lot of heroic efforts were made that day.

“As we move forward we want to prevent this from ever happening again,” he said.

Vice mayor’s experience

Oroville City Council Councilor Janet Goodson remembers that day very well. “The mayor at that time was at an out of state conference. I had just been elected a month prior as a new council member and voted in as the vice mayor by the council,” Goodson said.

“I received a phone call from Don Rust, who was the acting city administrator, at that time and was given briefing information that there was a significant break in the spillway and to come immediately to city hall. I remember my first phone call was to the general manager, Ron Roman, of the Operating Engineers, local three in Yuba City. I simply said, ‘Ron, stop what you are doing, the spillway has broken and we need your men and equipment,’” Goodson said.

Goodson said when she arrived at city hall, she was escorted to an initial meeting at the Cal Fire-Butte County office with a room full of local and state officials including Oroville Police Department, Oroville Fire Department, DWR, the sheriff and other government officials.

“Shortly thereafter, the Command Center was relocated to a more permanent location to the California State Parks office off of Glen Drive. For approximately two weeks, council members, Delrosario, Draper, Berry, Hatley and myself attended debriefings each morning to get concise and accurate information to disseminate to our constituent base,” Goodson said.

“When the sheriff gave the order to evacuate the city, my husband, Pastor David Goodson, and I drove separate vehicles and called neighbors that were without transportation and picked them up on our way out of the area. There was gridlock in both directions on Highway 70 and 99. People were walking on opposite sides of the streets with whatever they could carry and animals in tow. No one was prepared for this day. This crisis stopped everyone dead in their tracks and propelled us all into survival mode, afraid for our lives and our loved ones,” Goodson said.

Goodson said recreation activities were greatly affected by the crisis.

“The spillway break not only disrupted our daily routines but severely impacted the outdoor activities that we all enjoy and take for granted. Seventy-five percent of the bike trails were closed. Seventy percent of the horseback trails were closed and 60 percent of the hiking trails were closed as well. The Riverbend Park took a huge hit and our downtown businesses lost sizable revenue,” Goodson said.

Saving pipes

The crisis also affected residents in Butte County and other areas.

The morning the spillway broke, Jim Moll and his wife Claudia were taking a walk along the river by the Feather River Nature Center.

“The river was high and running fast but there was no evacuation order and we didn’t know there would be one,” said Moll.

When the Molls returned home in the early afternoon, they found out about the evacuation order. Although their home is above the flood plain and wasn’t impacted by the order, Moll, president of the State Theatre Arts Guild, was concerned about the 50 new pipes for the State Theatre’s organ. They were being stored at the Oroville Chinese Temple which was included in the evacuation order.

Moll, along with other STAGE volunteers, went into action. They rented a large U-Haul truck in Brownsville and drove it to the Chinese Temple. While the evacuation order was in place, volunteers scrambled to move the organ pipes from the temple to the second floor of the theater and to a hastily rented storage unit east of town.

“I guess I can confess now that it took us most of the next day to get them all moved. It was quite a project but we got it done,” recalled Moll.

Evacuating

It was late afternoon when Nancy Rivera, who lives on Grant Avenue in downtown Oroville, got word about the evacuation order.

“My neighbor came running out of his house screaming, ‘Nancy the dam’s gonna blow! Get out of here,’ and then got in his vehicle and took off,” said Rivera. “Then the police came down the street and told us we had to evacuate. I knew it was the spillway and not the dam because I follow the news.”

Rivera, her two daughters, grandson and the family dog loaded up to leave in one vehicle. Rivera’s sister and her husband and daughter and the family’s cats were in a second vehicle. The two-car caravan headed out of the city.

Rivera recalls it was stop and go traffic on Highway 162 and she was concerned about making it to Chico because her car was low on gas.

“Everything, and I mean everything, was closed so I just had to hope I’d have enough gas to get to Chico,” she said.

It took Rivera and her family 90 minutes to reach the evacuation site in Chico. The family spent four days away from their homes.

“I was never afraid. I have insurance on the house. I don’t run with fear. Whatever’s going to happen is what’s going to happen. I can’t predict it. I can’t worry about it. I just deal with what does happen. All my family were with me and that’s what mattered,” said Rivera.

The rebuilt main spillway was first utilized on April 2, 2019 and was successful in sustaining a flow of 25,000 cubic feet per second.

John Yarbrough, the assistant deputy director for DWR’s state water project said the new spillway is entirely up to modern standards and has been seen considerable oversight throughout the construction process.

“Under the oversight by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the California Division of Safety of Dams and an independent board of consultants, the main and emergency spillways have been fully reconstructed to modern engineering standards to be able to handle flows necessary for flood protection of downstream communities,” Yarbrough said. “The main spillway is equipped with over 100 sensors producing automated data that is collected daily to inform DWR engineers about the structure’s performance. Additional sensor equipment has been installed in the dam, with additional installations planned for this summer.”

In 2020, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave a nod to the Oroville Dam rebuild and called it an outstanding civil engineering project.

Yarbrough provided some of the numbers behind the main spillway which consists of a chute with 612 slabs and 204 wall placements, 13 million pounds of reinforcing steel and more than half a million cubic yards of concrete. The main spillway can handle up to 270,000 cubic feet of flow per second.

The emergency spillway, ancillary to the main spillway, has a stairstep splash pad, also called an “apron,” which Yarbrough said is meant to reduce the impact of water released from the structure.

Other projects surrounding that dam that have been implemented since the disaster include a seismic retrofit study, gate structure assessments and the installation of piezometers that collect data from the spillway.

While questions of the spillway’s infrastructure have been answered, at least by DWR, other conclusions remain up in the air as the litigation process between Butte County and DWR continues.

Shortly after the spillway broke, the county filed a lawsuit against the department claiming that the spillway’s infrastructure had been neglected, leading to severe damage to the river that received a sudden and mighty flow of water and debris.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said the suit focused on the Feather River which experienced damage all the way down to the Marysville area adding that roughly two million cubic yards of dirt and deleterious material, which consists of materials deemed unfit for project use, were released into the Feather River south of the dam.

The case became complicated as DWR sought to move the hearings to Sacramento where a judge dismissed the suit on the grounds that DWR was not considered an individual person based on the legal terminology, Ramsey said.

This prompted Ramsey and the county to take the case to the Third District Court of Appeals where it sits now.

“Basically, we exchange briefs and the Third District Court asked if we could negotiate a disposition,” Ramsey said. “We felt we were trying to negotiate in good faith but felt DWR were not — of course, DWR may have felt that way about us. So any sort of negotiation failed to settle the appeal. Now it’s just a matter of exchanging briefs and setting up for a hearing before a panel.”

Ramsey said he thought the incident came down to 50 years of negligence by the department, thus leading to the rupture and subsequent flooding of the Feather River.

“We continue to try and get justice for the damage done to the river and the environment,” Ramsey said.

In regards to the incident, Yarbrough spoke on the issues that came with the crisis.

“The Oroville spillways incident has made a lasting impact on dam safety in California and across the nation,” Yarbrough said. “The reconstruction of the Oroville spillways is just one of the many crucial changes DWR has implemented since the incident to bolster dam safety.”

While the litigation between the county and DWR regarding river pollution is ongoing, a settlement was reached in 2019 that led to a payout of roughly $11 million from DWR to help pay for the road damage that occurred as miles of traffic filled the roadways and Highway 70 when residents tried to flee Oroville due to the flooding threat.

The total payout came out to $12 million and the remaining funds went toward the county’s general fund, a fund for future road projects and other resources.

The powerplant was taken offline Aug. 5 because of falling water levels driven by the state’s ongoing severe drought conditions. The water levels had reached a historic low. Operations were resumed after recent storms have increased water levels and provided colder water in the reservoir.

According to the DWR’s data exchange center, the Oroville Dam was at 721 feet reservoir elevation Thursday.

“This is a significant milestone as California sees some relief from drought conditions,” DWR Director Karla Nemeth said. “Providing clean hydropower to the state energy grid allows DWR to assist in meeting the state’s clean energy goals.”

According to a statement from the Department of Water Resources, the power plant is using one generating unit to produce electricity. It is supplying it to the state’s electrical grid that is managed by the California Independent System Operator. Outflows from the plant and generation are expected to initially remain low because of reduced agricultural demands and improved delta salinity conditions.

The Department of Water Resources said in the statement that it anticipates an average outflow of about 900 cubic feet per second. This would generate around 30 megawatts of power. DWR will bring back additional units online as lake levels rise and demands increase.

DWR completed major maintenance activities while the power plant was offline to help make sure that the plant maintains its reliability. This was also done to make sure that the plant is available for water deliveries and power generation.

“DWR continues to manage Lake Oroville to balance storage needs with requirements for Delta outflows, water quality, and public health and safety requirements,” the statement read. “In an effort to conserve as much storage as possible in the event of another dry year.”

The images, taken by photographer Justin Sullivan on Tuesday, show the massive lake in Butte County just 42% full. That’s only half of its historic average for this date.

Built in the 1960s by former Gov. Edmund “Pat” Brown, Jerry Brown’s father, the reservoir holds 3.5 million acre feet when full — enough water for about 18 million people a year. The massive reservoir captures water from the Feather River watershed, and its dam is the tallest in the United States, at 770 feet tall.

The dam’s spillway famously collapsed during massive storms in 2017. A $1 billion construction project has since rebuilt it and upgraded the dam. The last time Lake Oroville was this low was during the 2012-2016 drought, and its images became one of the symbols of California’s historic water shortage during that crisis.

Why does this lake in rural Northern California, about 75 miles north of Sacramento, matter so much?

Lake Oroville is a key component in the State Water Project — a massive system of 21 dams and 701 miles of pipes and canals that moves water from Northern California to the south. The State Water Project essentially takes melting snow from the Sierra Nevada, captures it and transports it from Lake Oroville through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta all the way to San Diego. In doing so, it provides drinking water for 27 million people from Silicon Valley to the Los Angeles basin and irrigates about 750,000 acres of farmland.

But after two dry winters in a row, there isn’t much water to transport. Last month, the state Department of Water Resources announced that it expects to deliver just 5 percent of requested supplies this year. The final allocation will be announced in May.

“We are now facing the reality that it will be a second dry year for California and that is having a significant impact on our water supply,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources, at the time.

On April 1, typically the end of the winter snow season, the Sierra Nevada snowpack, the source of nearly one-third of California’s water, was 59% of average. Last year on April 1, it was 54% of normal. Meanwhile, rainfall levels in most Bay Area cities are currently at 35% to 40% of normal.

Reservoir levels in other parts of the state, particularly the Central Valley and Southern California are in better shape than Oroville. So far, most major water agencies in the Bay Area have asked customers for voluntary conservation, saying their groundwater and reservoir levels are adequate for this year.

But experts say if next winter is also dry, cities and water agencies across the state will almost certainly have mandatory water restrictions.

The dry weather also has increased fire danger. Last year driven in part by a series of lightning storms, 4.1 million acres burned statewide, the worst fire season in modern California history. Fire officials say this year is expected to also have high fire danger as already low moisture levels in brush, trees and grasses dry out even more. Significant rains in California aren’t expect now for six or seven months, until next winter’s rainy season begins.

California’s largest reservoir, Shasta Lake, near Redding, on Thursday was similarly depleted. It stood at 51% full, or about 59% of its historic average for this date. Shasta is the linchpin of California’s other major water delivery system, the Central Valley Project, which is operated by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. The Central Valley Project mostly provides water to farmers in the Central Valley, although it does provide some to urban areas, including Santa Clara County.