by Heather Tone
With the recent storms it’s been great to witness area lakes, reservoirs, rivers and creeks looking full again. I haven’t seen the Truckee River this high in several years and I’m happy there could possibly be lots more water this summer than last. With all of the March precipitation and more likely to come our way, I’ve been wondering how much water is flowing into the lake and reservoirs versus how much is being released.
The Truckee River Watershed Council received a notice from the Department of Water Resources on March 7th advising us that due to the heavy precipitation in early March the inflows into Prosser Creek Reservoir were exceeding 500 cfs (cubic feet per second) and the reservoir exceeded its 9800 acre-feet flood control limit. This flood control limit is set by the US Army Corps of Engineers and is required from November 1st through April 10th. As a result, the releases out of Prosser Dam rate increased to 200 cfs. As of March 15th, inflow was at 220 cfs and releases out of Prosser Dam were around 250 cfs. It is expected that releases may taper off as the inflow slows down and the reservoir level drops below the 9800 acre-feet flood control limit.
At the end of the best winter this area has experienced in a few years, we’ve been reflecting on the restoration project we completed with the Forest Service last summer. It improved fish habitat below Prosser Dam. We’ve been monitoring the project site as it receives these recent high flows and things are looking good.
For more information on the Prosser and other restoration projects, check out this recent presentation by Beth Christman.
Thank you to the Department of Water Resources for the recent updates on Prosser.
