Open Water Caples Lake North Shore May 4, 2009
Posted by John Voss, Owner Caples Lake Resort
We’re all amazed at the current lake level at Caples Lake in light of the low precipitation year we just had in California. The emergency drawdown of the lake last fall for dam repairs left us with dire predictions of the lake level this summer.
Here’s my graph of lake level (LL) vs. storage from El Dorado Irrigation District (EID) data, the usable launch ramp bottom of 52 feet LL at Caples Lake Resort, and the new public boat launch usable bottom of 36 feet LL (operational late summer 2009).
My guess is the lake fill level will be about 50 to 55 feet (62 max LL) this summer based on the current LL of 32 feet, current snow pillow (the water content of snow pack) of 24 inches, current release of 15 cubic feet per second (cfs), and based on our past average number of 1 inch of pillow equals 1 foot of lake fill.
This would not have happened without the proactive efforts of EID and the Ecological Resources Committee (ERC), which is a collective group comprised of the US Forest Service, State Water Resources Board, Department of Fish and Game, EID, and concerned citizen groups, to reduce winter and summer lake releases from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license requirements.
We appreciate everyones effort to maximize the water level at Caples Lake.
Woods Creek Inlet May 4, 2009