[env-trinity] http://www.redding.com/news/local-news/agencies-further-restrict-water-from-lake-shasta_08923386

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.redding.com/news/local-news/agencies-further-restrict-water-from-lake-shasta_08923386
  
http://www.redding.com/news/local-news/agencies-further-restrict-water-from-lake-shasta_08923386
ADDRESS:
Damon Arthur 
7:46 PM, Jun 16, 20157:36 AM, Jun 17, 2015
REDDING, California - Citing worsening drought conditions that threaten to drive some salmon species extinct, state and federal officials plan to further restrict water coming out of Lake Shasta to ensure there is enough cold water later this year for spawning fish.Since the end of May, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had been under orders to limit releases from Keswick Lake to 7,500 cubic-feet per second.But on Tuesday, citing dire drought conditions, officials said they plan to reduce that amount further, to 7,250 cfs. The average releases from Keswick for June over the past 15 years is 11,000 cfs.Chuck Bonham, state Department of Fish and Wildlife Department director, said the cutbacks are necessary to ensure the survival of Chinook salmon spawning in the Sacramento River.“On the species front, this is a legitimate existential threat to survival,” he said, referring to winter-run Chinook salmon, which last year suffered a massive die-off in the river when water coming from Lake Shasta through Keswick Dam became too warm in the fall, killing off salmon eggs and recent hatches.“It’s grim, any way you slice it,” Bonham said.Last year the bureau said that because of the drought the cold water pool in Lake Shasta was depleted by October and water sent downstream into the river reached temperatures in the high 50s and low 60s, killing off 95 percent of the naturally spawned salmon eggs and recent hatches in the river.Fisheries officials try to keep the river temperature at a maximum of 56 degrees between Keswick Dam and the confluence of Clear Creek in south Redding.Lake Shasta dropped to its second-lowest level on record in November last year. As of Tuesday, the lake was at 51 percent of capacity.With water and atmosphere temperatures already running higher, officials have changed their target temperature to 57 degrees this year. Officials hope reducing flows out of Shasta and Keswick dams earlier in the season will help ensure the cold water pool in Lake Shasta lasts through the fall.But the plans officials make now may need to be thrown out later, depending on weather, water supplies and other factors, said Will Stelle, regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.“We are operating this year with a set of circumstances that we haven’t seen before,” Stelle said. “All of the fancy modeling and predictions can only go so far.”While officials reduce water to save fish, there could be less water for cities and irrigation districts later this year, said Ron Milligan, an operations manager for the bureau. He did not know how much water supplies could be cut or when.A piping system that transports water from Trinity Lake in Trinity County to Whiskeytown Lake will enable the bureau to use water from Whiskeytown Lake to augment cold water supplies in the Sacramento River, Milligan said.Water from Whisketytown flows through pipes into Keswick Lake. Whiskeytown, though, will likely not be drawn down significantly as the bureau refills the lake with water from Trinity Lake, Milligan said.The plan proposed by state and federal officials will go before the State Water Resources Control Board for approval next week.Reducing water from Shasta and Keswick lakes is just the latest action officials have taken this year to address the effects of the drought as it drags into a fourth summer.Again out of concern for the survival of spawning winter-run salmon, in April the Department of Fish and Wildlife closed off the Sacramento River to fishing from the Highway 44 bridge to Keswick Dam. That section of the river will remain closed until August.And last week the State Water Resources Control Board issued notices to 86 senior water rights holders that they must stop diverting water from the Sacramento River and its tributaries because of low water levels in the streams.Included among those issued curtailment orders are the Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District and Sierra Pacific Industries of Anderson. The city of Redding, which has senior water rights on the river, was not on the list of those receiving curtailment orders.Stan Wangberg, general manager of the irrigation district, said he believes the state allows the district an exception to the curtailment order because it has a contract with the bureau to receive water.“For now, we’re working on the fact that our assumption is correct and we’re continuing to deliver water to our customers,” Wangberg said.The district has a contract to receive 125,000 acre-feet of water annually, but because of the drought it is receiving only 75 percent of its allotment, he said.Sierra Pacific’s Mark Pawlicki said the timber company was ordered to stop taking water from Deer and Antelope Creeks, both Sacramento River tributaries in Tehama County.But Sierra Pacific sent the water board a letter that says it is required under its timber harvest plans to have water on hand to spray down logging roads to keep dust down, Pawlicki said. The company uses about four truckloads of water a day, less than an acre-foot of water a year, he said.
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