Posted on 09/25/2015 1:27:37 PM PDT by Red Badger
FOLSOM LAKE (CBS13) — A Northern California reservoir ran dry overnight, killing thousands of fish and leaving residents looking for answers.
While a $3.5 million drought safety net at Folsom Lake finishes, a lake in another part of the state is left high and dry.
Thousands of fish lay dead in what used to be Mountain Meadows reservoir also known as Walker Lake, a popular fishing hole just west of Susanville.
“Everywhere that you see that’s wet, there was water,” said resident Eddie Bauer.
RELATED: California Drought Has More Insects Swarming Toward Homes
Residents say people were fishing on the lake last Saturday, but it drained like a bathtub overnight. Bauer has lived near this lake his entire life. This is the first time he’s ever seen it run dry. He and other residents want answers.
Pacific Gas & Electric Company owns the rights to the water and uses it for hydroelectric power.
It’s the situation we worked hard to avoid but the reality is we’re in a very serious drought, there’s also concerns for the fish downstream,” said spokesman Paul Moreno.
Bauer says there should’ve been at least two weeks of water left and that would’ve given PG&E enough time to relocate the fish.
“This makes me feel like they didn’t want to do a fish rescue and that it was easier to open that sucker up Saturday night,” Bauer said.
PG&E officials say nobody opened the dam up and the water simply ran out.
No matter who’s to blame, residents here worry, this could happen in other areas of the state.
“The reservoirs are all continuing to be far below normal,” said Doug Carlson with the Department of Water Resources.
He says there’s no question water concerns are still a serious issue across the state.
“We are reliant upon rainfall to fill those lakes of course and until we get more rain we’re not likely to see any appreciable increase in the reservoir levels,” he said.
At Folsom Lake, workers are finishing work on floating barges that would pump water to the city of Folsom and the prison if the lake gets too low for the water to flow through an intake valve. An insurance policy that may be put into use soon.
Any more dam questions?
Bauer says there should've been at least two weeks of water left and that would've given PG&E enough time to relocate the fish. "This makes me feel like they didn't want to do a fish rescue and that it was easier to open that sucker up Saturday night," Bauer said.Complete Idiot Ping.
Somebody flushed Kalifornica.
In a region as seismically active as California this sort of occurrence might be a precursor of something a little worse than dead fish.
It’s Glowbull Warming I tell ya!................
Somebody needs to..............
I would be happy to end California’s drought for the right price. All I need to do is park my Jeep outside overnight with the top down and it’s guaranteed to rain at least 3-4”.
Don't worry - the lake will be back once they all pee.
Exactly. This shallow lake goes dry all the time. The dead fish are most likely Carp.
Local explanation here:
http://plumasnews.com/index.php/14354-mountain-meadows-reservoir-empties-stranding-fish
Workers unclogged an outlet valve plugged with debris and caused the drainage.
The water levels in wells in the area should be checked for unusual changes.
If the water took days to disappear then it would be normal.
If the lake just drained overnight, such changes correlate with seismic activity.
TWB
This is getting scary.
Not really. see post #51.
Not what the locals say. More information here:
http://lassennews.com/index.php/2053-mountain-meadows-reservoir-empties-2
Okay.
Thanks.
It's not over yet, Yogi. RIP
FMCDH(BITS)
Those whales drowned in the great flood. /s
Well Eddie, it won’t be wet for too long. Strange that they named a truck after such an observant guy!
Er, them manatees are here in Florida. Most escaped from California years ago./s
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