Every major reservoir in Northern California is at levels above historic averages.
California’s largest reservoir, Lake Shasta, is 96% full right now. It’s around the time of year that these lakes will be at their peak before the rain stops and water is needed to irrigate farmland.
While Lake Shasta north of Redding was doing just as well last year, during an exceptionally wet winter, Trinity Lake further west is the true comeback story.
“Trinity last year, believe it or not, only got barely above 50% full. And so we’re extremely in better shape on Trinity this year compared to last year,” said Don Bader, the area manager for the Bureau of Reclamation overseeing Shasta and Trinity lakes.
Trinity Lake is now over 85% full. This time last year, the reservoir was only 37% full.
Bader said because there was so much water leftover from last summer they were able to begin winter with a head start.
Trinity Lake was one of the few reservoirs in California that didn’t fill up during the wet 2022-23 winter. Bader said the basin where Trinity Lake gets its water is much smaller than others. While Trinity is a little over half the size of Lake Shasta, its drainage area – the area surrounding the lake where water from rains or snow flows in – is 10 times smaller.
In Southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley Basin, reservoirs aren’t doing as well as historic averages, but they’re still better off than last year.
Wanda Derry is the manager at the Talent Irrigation District, which distributes water from the three largest reservoirs in the Rogue Valley. She said they got so much water a year ago that they were able to save extra this winter.
“Our goal this year is to also be conservative and try to carry as much as we can over to the next year,” Derry said.
That extra water will be critical to helping farmers get through the next drought period.
