Lake Mead and California

[newdayneeded]

Seeing as California is flush with water, with all the melting snow pack yet to come. Wouldn't they need very little out of the Colorado (lake mead) for this year. They are allowed 4.4 million acres feet, its seems to me they would need much less than that this year. this could be retained in lake mead and help the water level.

[ripcord]

1. I don't think that is going to happen

Southern California gets a third of its daily water supply from the Colorado. They could give up the water they stole from the Owen Valley but that will never happen either, the coastal areas of Southern California have too many people for the water they have so they expect other areas to supply their greedy cities with water.

[kysrsoze]

2. The Sierra snowpack doesn't feed Lake Mead's recipient area.

Everything from southern LA area down through San Diego is sourced by groundwater and the Colorado River. I’m not aware of any canal system that can feed additional water from from the CA Sierra water system to that area. You are right that the snowpack will be a huge help to everything north of that area.

Some of the groundwater in far Southern CA is being replenished and I’ve read the Colorado snow pack source to Lake Mead is pretty good this year, but it will take a lot more rain/snow and committed cuts to Colorado River usage by CA, NV, AZ, etc., to resolve the long-term issue.

[newdayneeded]

5. As I stated their snowpack will fill their

reservoirs. so it seems they would need less from the Colorado River system.

[ripcord]

9. Actually Los Angeles gets a good a.ount of runoff from the Sierra's

It comes down the aqueduct from the Owen's Valley.

[Johnny2X2X]

3. Been the Winter of dreams for drought fighting

16 of California's 17 biggest reservoirs are very near to, at, or above their historical averages. Several are near capacity. Ground water is being replenished. Much of California has exited drought altogether. But Lake Powell and Lake Mead are still low and it's really hard to predict what's going to happen with them in the coming months.

Bottom line is what happened in CA this Winter was not thought possible before the Winter, but Lake Mead and Powell are still question marks for the effects of the Wiinter in the Rockies.

[PufPuf23]

11. Typically, the reservoirs were drawn down in the Spring to accommodate snowmelt.

Otherwise, there is the risk in heavy snowpack years that the reservoir over tops during Spring runoff.

[mike_c]

4. it's time to decommision Lake Powell...

...and move its water downstream to Lake Mead. The western drought will not be definitely over in our lifetimes, even if we have occasional wet years. The main argument for keeping Powell on life support is hydroelectric generation, but there's barely enough flow to keep the generators running in either lake, and a half full Mead is way better than both powerhouses sucking dry. Parts of Glen Canyon that were under a hundred feet of water are dry again. It's time to restore the Colorado's flow through Glen Canyon.

[newdayneeded]

6. That would make officials admit

they are wrong. They won't do that easy.

[2naSalit]

7. Colorado River System...

Very little goes to California and that's way down in the Imperial Valley irrigation district.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

8. Arizona's reservoirs and rivers are pretty full

They've been releasing water from the Salt River reservoirs for the past few weeks and the river is running higher than I've seen in Phoenix in 40 years. But that all ends up in the Colorado at Yuma, so I'm not sure where it is being stored.

[sl8]

10. If Wikipedia is right, they still get more than any other state:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_Compact

[2naSalit]

12. I stand corrected...

On that point.

And I misstated what I meant to say (multitasking isn't always my fine point) is that most of California is not part of the Colorado network and they are doing what they can to retain as much as the can including diversion of flood/runoff water to farmland in the San Joaquin Valley to recharge aquifers. The opportunities are not being lost on the state. The reservoirs will be refreshed, not just recharged since they are discharging now for fresh water to come.

[sl8]

13. Ah, gotcha, thanks for the clarification. nt

[2naSalit]

14. I wasn't really clear in the prior comment.

Thanks for bringing it to my attention.