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E-mail StoryIsabella Dam flood worries ebb
| Monday, Jun 26 2006 10:05 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Nov 9 2007 10:41 AM
The threat of big floods on the valley floor from melting snow and Isabella Dam releases has passed, officials announced Monday.
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On Sunday the Corps handed control of the Isabella dams back to local authorities -- including the city of Bakersfield -- after determining that the flooding threat had passed, Corps spokesman Jeff Hawk said.
"It's good news," Hawk said. "We're over the hump ... We believe the snowmelt danger has peaked."
The Corps took control of dam operations in late April after detecting higher-than-normal leakage in the auxiliary dam at Isabella Lake.
To quicken repairs, the Corps mandated the dam water's depth be lowered. That, in turn, forced the release of near-record levels of water out of the lake and into the Kern River.
It was an "uncomfortable" situation because the releases coincided with more-than-average snowfall in the Sierra Mountains melting and filling up the lake, Hawk said.
The inflow of melting snow has dropped considerably, Hawk said.
"We're pleased," said Bakersfield Water Resources Manager Florn Core. "It's a positive note."
The Sunday transfer of control also tells him, Core said, that the Corps has likely determined the structural integrity of the seeping dam is better than it initially thought.
But Corps officials said they're still concerned about and monitoring the soundness of the half-century old structure.
Kern River levels have dropped since early last week.
A week ago, water was flowing out of the Isabella Dam at about 4,500 cubic-feet per second. Monday, the flow was down to 3,200 cubic-feet per second.
"That's great news," Bakersfield City Councilman David Couch said after hearing about the transfer of control. "I'm glad (the Corps) saw the wisdom in that."
Besides concerns about flooding homesteads along the river -- and dam failure altogether -- city officials were worried about losing water. In wet years -- which are vastly outnumbered by drought ones -- the city banks as much water as possible for future use.
But the water flow in May and early June had been more than the city could stockpile.
With the Kern River reaching flows of 4,500 cubic-feet per second, that flow exceeded the area's current need, recharge capacity and irrigation demands.
So the "extra" water was lost to the California Aqueduct and thus other counties. Four months' worth of water that would normally be released from the dam, Core said, had to be released in two months.
"Our objective is to keep all Kern River water in this basin," said Couch, chair of the city Water Resources Committee.
The extraordinary outflow took its toll, Core said. Since late April, the city has lost about 150,000 to 160,000 acre-feet of water.
That's equal to Bakersfield's entire water use in one calendar year, Core said.
For now, the goal of the Corps and city is to have the lake be about 63 percent of capacity, or containing 360,000 acre-feet of water. Monday, the level was about 385,000 acre-feet, so it will take around 10 days for the lake to reach its desired level, Hawk said.
Repairs could take as long as 10 years.
But for the time being, Hawk had a suggestion for Kern County valley residents:
You can breathe a sigh of relief, he said.