First, the good news: This winter, much of the Sierra had a near-average snowpack. Now, the bad news: It has melted early.
Word of the vanishing Sierra snowpack, which usually helps replenish reservoir levels later in the summer, arrives amid uncertainty over how California’s dams will be managed in coming months to protect endangered fish. It also comes at a critical juncture for urban water officials across the state. Wednesday is their deadline to submit updated drought conservation plans that lay out projections of how much water will be available to customers over the next three years.
Federal officials late last week signed off on a plan that would release more water from Shasta Dam through June. The decision came after nearly two weeks of pressure from California’s powerful farming lobby and members of Congress who argued that too much water was being held back to protect endangered fish.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and federal fisheries officials on Friday adopted a temporary plan that would increase the amount of water rushing down the Sacramento River below Shasta Dam from 8,000 cubic feet per second to 9,000 for the rest of June, bureau spokesman Shane Hunt said Monday.
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