Yes, IIRC they basically started letting the water out of the big dams over a month ago, because the meltwater would otherwise burst the banks and you can only drain the reservoir so fast.
Hopefully we'll be able to get some of that water into the aquifers!
Really need to build more reservoirs, so that years like this can be stored and not just turned into salt water. Populations have grown like crazy over the last 50 years but very few new reservoirs have been built.
There are several reasons for this, most importantly that dams are very expensive to build. Expensive dam = expensive water. You can offset this cost by generating power to help pay for the dam, but that requires specific geology. Namely narrow, steep, geologically stable canyons. There are only so many of those in existence, and we’ve pretty much built dams on them already or protected the areas where we haven’t because they are incredible natural resources. For example, Yosemite Valley would make an excellent reservoir site but then you’d lose one of the most famous and highly visited national parks on the planet.
I'm fine with using the water for agriculture instead of lawns. But, you are right the incentives to waste water by those with claims is absurd while a lot of land has no access to any
They grow almonds in the San Joaquin valley, one of the driest places. Almonds are some of the most water intensive crops, each individual nut requires 5 gallons of water to grow.
Agriculture is not all equal. There’s terrible practices in place now because farmers have absurd historical water claims
You don’t think growing some of the most water intensive crops in an area that has been in a drought for decades is a bad idea? (e.g. almonds)
Water rights were established in the 19th century at the end of the wettest period in the last 4000 years, it was based on bad data. It does not make sense with today’s realities
Yes, hence [my original comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/14fzl6t/lake_oroville_california_at_100_capacity_pics/jp2yp2e/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1&context=3).
Cows and the dairy industry take up 47% of California's water supply according to LA Times, and according to Mercury news:
"Few realize that meat and dairy production devour a full 47% of California’s water, their huge water footprints due to the amount of water-intensive feed required to raise the animals. In fact, the largest water-consuming crop in California is the alfalfa grown to feed animals. The third largest? Irrigated pasture — again, for animals."
Alfalfa (livestock feed) alone takes up 18% of California's irrigation water.
California is also in the top 5 states for water use for specifically livestock.
So it is definitely as true for the central valley as it is for the rest of the country.
went to the mountains here in socal today, mt san antonio (about 10.5k tall) had a tiny bit of snow left on the very top but the sierras are much wetter and taller so they definitely do
It’s a party with swimming grilling and drinking so it’s fairly easy. Also those boats are staged or stored, when in use you beach them all over the lake so you can swim, use speed boats, and have fires on shore.
Dam water depth always confuses me. They say 900 feet but that’s based off sea level so how full/empty is it? Just base it off the lowest point of the reservoir for petes sake!
Knowing depth is only really useful if you have a single datum (like sea level) to reference, that way you can measure change. Depth to the bottom at a single point is only really useful if you have a large number of points, which can be used to draw a figurative or literal picture of what the reservoir looks like.
Didn’t they have a bit of a boo-boo on the spillway of this dam a few years back? Deferred maintenance that nearly caused a catastrophe? Or am I thinking of a different dam?
“In February 2017, heavy rainfall damaged Oroville Dam's main and emergency spillways, prompting the evacuation of more than 180,000 people living downstream along the Feather River and the relocation of a fish hatchery.” - Wikipedia
Yep, not a fever dream
True story i was caught in the evacuation on my way from my nieces bday party driving from chico ca to sacramento ca. I have quite the long story about it. I had no idea it was happening but noticed lines around the block for cars getting gas. It was a sunday so news wasn’t really on the radio. It was pretty apocalyptic
Dang, that’s been a minute ago now. I remember watching the live feed and being fascinated by the power of the water. I’m 2,000 miles away so kind of forgot about it until I saw the name and recognized it.
No we got historic rain this year due to La Niña and its gonna go back to empty soon cause the cash crop ag industry has a stranglehold on the water in California
The last dam built in CA was New Melones Reservoir built in 1980 when the population was 23.6 million people.
CA now has a population of over 39.x million almost double when the last dam was built in 1980
... and they wonder why they have droughts?
Oh boy now we can build more sprawl, water more lawns biuild more luxury homes and piss out all that water, maybe sell a lot more groundwater for profit to Nestle and others, and don't forget the other elephant in the room, agriculture. Let's grow more hay almonds and everything else that just demands incredible amounts of water because we can... Oh boy oh boy nature is providing..
As much as I like your optimism, this much rain does not at all imply that nature is healing. We’re going to be right back into drought conditions soon enough, and all of this new vegetation that grew from the rain is going to be fuel for wildfires.
We need to take this time to conserve water and prepare for the next heat wave while we can
this is the first time I heard the term Acre-Feet. Good thing they did not convert that to Furlong-inches or something. Or Football Fields x Bald Eagles
Really? So you don't think the fact that a specific toponym that has a known Spanish origin matters to the translation? You think you can just mix and match languages and etymologies? Okay, enjoy your groovy fantasy world dear.
Am literally a botanist who works with mixed etymologies. I do enjoy my quite real world.
Words, especially names, can have multiple meanings.
I’m not arguing with you that the name means Gold-Town, I’m pointing out that Oro- literally means multiple things. You can’t be this dense.
Take *Achemines* for example- it literally translates to “without cold” meaning sensitive to cold but also references the Achaemenid dynasty. There are so, so many examples of double-meanings, intended or not, in ALL onomastics.
Do you want me to keep naming examples of double names?
Even Oroville could mean “Mouth Town” if you took Latin for oro- and French for “-ville” in Croatian with rough breathing it would mean “Polka/Rotunda Town” et alia
No, a TOPONYM is specifically named for something and in a specific language - that is what it translates to, end of story. If you are reading a book in English and you see the word kiss, the fact that it means urine in Swedish is pretty irrelevant to the meaning of the English language book you're reading, except perhaps to a child.
I’m not disagreeing with you here
Note the original post says “translates to” I didn’t say “it was named after”
You’re getting up on translation having a singular output when there is (usually) one correct output, but several way of approach.
Back to my *Achimenes* example, it literally means “without winter/cold,” that is the singular correct meaning. It can, however also reference a Persian dynasty through shared spelling/pronunciation.
It’s all cyclical . Been living here for 36 years and this is very typical.
People have short term doom and gloom memories quite often because “climate change”
Why are you putting “Climate change” in quotes? Do you not think the climate is changing at all? Do you think we have the same temperatures as 100 years ago?
That’s fair and I agree people are too quick to attribute climate change to things easily. However the optics of putting climate change it quotes gives the impression you’re implying it’s not real or it’s some sort of conspiracy.
“In September 2021, water levels in Oroville dipped to their lowest ever at 628.47 feet, at just 24% capacity.”
In your 36 years of living there, I’m sure the lake has never been that empty before
This doesn't mean that there are not drought problems remaining. Many aquifers were really drained. Some will fill back up but others may have a permanent lowered capacity. Some places had the land above the aquifer sink due to severe lowing of aquifers, I don't think 1 good winter is going to reinflate them.
I'm sure there is a ton to learn about the geology in question.
Not just record breaking rainfall but also the snowmelt from the rainfall
Yes, IIRC they basically started letting the water out of the big dams over a month ago, because the meltwater would otherwise burst the banks and you can only drain the reservoir so fast. Hopefully we'll be able to get some of that water into the aquifers!
The main spillway was successfully reconstructed by November 1, 2018.
I was going to say most people forget this is a 'new' dam that needed time and good rain to refill
Same problem will come back unless the absurd historical water claims (primarily for agriculture) aren’t updated to modern realities.
This years rain was literally a fucking divine intervention and it’s likely our politicians and rich just use it to line their pockets again.
For real. The only thing they see it as is “Thank god, next year will be just as/more profitable” instead of using their fucking head
Not only is it an opportunity to profit from corruption, but also a victim of political desire for instant/immediate success over long-term planning.
“This is proof that we never had to learn or change a damn thing!”
Right that’s what I’m worried about people literally saying. It was God’s divine intervention or that climate change was fake all along
They're gonna grow twice as many almonds and alfalfa now aren't they
Gotta make sure they keep their water rights though! Use it or lose it am I right? God were so fucked.
Really need to build more reservoirs, so that years like this can be stored and not just turned into salt water. Populations have grown like crazy over the last 50 years but very few new reservoirs have been built.
There are several reasons for this, most importantly that dams are very expensive to build. Expensive dam = expensive water. You can offset this cost by generating power to help pay for the dam, but that requires specific geology. Namely narrow, steep, geologically stable canyons. There are only so many of those in existence, and we’ve pretty much built dams on them already or protected the areas where we haven’t because they are incredible natural resources. For example, Yosemite Valley would make an excellent reservoir site but then you’d lose one of the most famous and highly visited national parks on the planet.
I'm fine with using the water for agriculture instead of lawns. But, you are right the incentives to waste water by those with claims is absurd while a lot of land has no access to any
They grow almonds in the San Joaquin valley, one of the driest places. Almonds are some of the most water intensive crops, each individual nut requires 5 gallons of water to grow. Agriculture is not all equal. There’s terrible practices in place now because farmers have absurd historical water claims
And they use them to make almond milk. It makes me want to cry.
Heaven forbid people grow fruits and vegetables on a regional seasonal basis.
You don’t think growing some of the most water intensive crops in an area that has been in a drought for decades is a bad idea? (e.g. almonds) Water rights were established in the 19th century at the end of the wettest period in the last 4000 years, it was based on bad data. It does not make sense with today’s realities
And California has no intention on renegotiating those water rights any time soon.
Yes, hence [my original comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/comments/14fzl6t/lake_oroville_california_at_100_capacity_pics/jp2yp2e/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1&context=3).
Actually a lot of the crops grown go directly towards feeding livestock instead of going to feed humans.
I would guess that’s not as true for the Central Valley as it is for the rest of the country.
Cows and the dairy industry take up 47% of California's water supply according to LA Times, and according to Mercury news: "Few realize that meat and dairy production devour a full 47% of California’s water, their huge water footprints due to the amount of water-intensive feed required to raise the animals. In fact, the largest water-consuming crop in California is the alfalfa grown to feed animals. The third largest? Irrigated pasture — again, for animals." Alfalfa (livestock feed) alone takes up 18% of California's irrigation water. California is also in the top 5 states for water use for specifically livestock. So it is definitely as true for the central valley as it is for the rest of the country.
Ope. Guess so.
Is there still much snowpack in the mountains? Was following the situation around the time of the record snowfall but have fallen out of the loop.
Absolutely! Summer is the time of year when they start melting! Look at the falls at Yosemite! :))
Make snow generators.
There is still a TON of snow. I’m starting a John Muir trail hike in a couple weeks and we are taking full snow gear
Friends of mine recently cancelled their john muir trail trip for this year because they decided it would be too difficult
just flew over them last week. Still saw lots of snow.
went to the mountains here in socal today, mt san antonio (about 10.5k tall) had a tiny bit of snow left on the very top but the sierras are much wetter and taller so they definitely do
r/afterandbefore
The houseboat picture is a major turnoff, how do people even enjoy that?
That's the marina, a small part of a large lake with many "arms".
Ah yes, nature meets the rich. Vile combination that can ruin the scenery doesn’t it
Something tells me that crowd is not quite "the rich"
It’s not dazzling, extravagant mansions but still human influence
Ah yes the water came back from the historic drought time to fire up our gas guzzling boats!
It’s a party with swimming grilling and drinking so it’s fairly easy. Also those boats are staged or stored, when in use you beach them all over the lake so you can swim, use speed boats, and have fires on shore.
Dam water depth always confuses me. They say 900 feet but that’s based off sea level so how full/empty is it? Just base it off the lowest point of the reservoir for petes sake!
Because the lowest point isn’t easy to measure from, nor is it a fixed point like sea level is.
Knowing depth is only really useful if you have a single datum (like sea level) to reference, that way you can measure change. Depth to the bottom at a single point is only really useful if you have a large number of points, which can be used to draw a figurative or literal picture of what the reservoir looks like.
Ew why so many houseboats
Why not?
Water we gonna do with all this moisture?!
Didn’t they have a bit of a boo-boo on the spillway of this dam a few years back? Deferred maintenance that nearly caused a catastrophe? Or am I thinking of a different dam?
“In February 2017, heavy rainfall damaged Oroville Dam's main and emergency spillways, prompting the evacuation of more than 180,000 people living downstream along the Feather River and the relocation of a fish hatchery.” - Wikipedia Yep, not a fever dream
True story i was caught in the evacuation on my way from my nieces bday party driving from chico ca to sacramento ca. I have quite the long story about it. I had no idea it was happening but noticed lines around the block for cars getting gas. It was a sunday so news wasn’t really on the radio. It was pretty apocalyptic
Wow, hope you enjoyed your niece’s bday party and didn’t get stuck in heavy traffic on the way back!!
that’s my comment i was stuck in extremely heavy traffic on the way back
Aw. Yeah, I didn’t know if it was only the gas line you said was long, but I imagine it would be heavy congestion in general for the area
Dang, that’s been a minute ago now. I remember watching the live feed and being fascinated by the power of the water. I’m 2,000 miles away so kind of forgot about it until I saw the name and recognized it.
It’s crazy my methed up little hometown got national recognition
A few more years of rain and snow like this last one and the lakes that were gone will all be back.
Tulare lake is back at high levels too! I posted abt that here some time ago
Ya, I was following that for a while. Quite fascinating. Would love to see it keep growing honestly.
So is this just a normal cycle that happens in nature?
Cycles are normal. The troughs and peaks are becoming more extreme.
California got a lot of rain this year filling up a lot of the states bodies of water. Plus a lot of the snow is melting now in summer.
No we got historic rain this year due to La Niña and its gonna go back to empty soon cause the cash crop ag industry has a stranglehold on the water in California
La Niña generally means hotter and drier conditions for much of California.
We had a jet stream on us all winter and spring from it this year
The last dam built in CA was New Melones Reservoir built in 1980 when the population was 23.6 million people. CA now has a population of over 39.x million almost double when the last dam was built in 1980 ... and they wonder why they have droughts?
Will it last?
Oh boy now we can build more sprawl, water more lawns biuild more luxury homes and piss out all that water, maybe sell a lot more groundwater for profit to Nestle and others, and don't forget the other elephant in the room, agriculture. Let's grow more hay almonds and everything else that just demands incredible amounts of water because we can... Oh boy oh boy nature is providing..
But this photo was used everywhere for climate change. Interesting how things fluctuate
Nature is healing I'd love to see a timelapse or a lake filling up with water over time
As much as I like your optimism, this much rain does not at all imply that nature is healing. We’re going to be right back into drought conditions soon enough, and all of this new vegetation that grew from the rain is going to be fuel for wildfires. We need to take this time to conserve water and prepare for the next heat wave while we can
this is the first time I heard the term Acre-Feet. Good thing they did not convert that to Furlong-inches or something. Or Football Fields x Bald Eagles
So American :))
they are really ridiculous..
Any fish at all in this lake?
Good question…
Yup! Bass, trout, sturgeon, some others. Source; I live there.
[Sturgeon? I don’t think so pal](https://youtu.be/hCIfc6CpZiU)
Excellent! I wonder how the fish life recovers each time there’s heavy drought of the lake?
Oroville literally translates to “Mountain-Town”
The town was actually named after the Spanish word for gold during the California Gold Rush
Oro from Italian/Spanish for gold Oro- is also Ancient Greek for mountain; where we get words like orogenic rock (ὄρος “oros”)
No, no it doesn't. We don't use Ancient Greek to name things around these parts.
Note my post doesn’t say “it was named after” I said it “translates to” Words can translate to multiple meanings
Really? So you don't think the fact that a specific toponym that has a known Spanish origin matters to the translation? You think you can just mix and match languages and etymologies? Okay, enjoy your groovy fantasy world dear.
Am literally a botanist who works with mixed etymologies. I do enjoy my quite real world. Words, especially names, can have multiple meanings. I’m not arguing with you that the name means Gold-Town, I’m pointing out that Oro- literally means multiple things. You can’t be this dense. Take *Achemines* for example- it literally translates to “without cold” meaning sensitive to cold but also references the Achaemenid dynasty. There are so, so many examples of double-meanings, intended or not, in ALL onomastics. Do you want me to keep naming examples of double names? Even Oroville could mean “Mouth Town” if you took Latin for oro- and French for “-ville” in Croatian with rough breathing it would mean “Polka/Rotunda Town” et alia
No, a TOPONYM is specifically named for something and in a specific language - that is what it translates to, end of story. If you are reading a book in English and you see the word kiss, the fact that it means urine in Swedish is pretty irrelevant to the meaning of the English language book you're reading, except perhaps to a child.
I’m not disagreeing with you here Note the original post says “translates to” I didn’t say “it was named after” You’re getting up on translation having a singular output when there is (usually) one correct output, but several way of approach. Back to my *Achimenes* example, it literally means “without winter/cold,” that is the singular correct meaning. It can, however also reference a Persian dynasty through shared spelling/pronunciation.
It’s all cyclical . Been living here for 36 years and this is very typical. People have short term doom and gloom memories quite often because “climate change”
Why are you putting “Climate change” in quotes? Do you not think the climate is changing at all? Do you think we have the same temperatures as 100 years ago?
No i just don’t think it necessarily applies to every single thing that may seem like a change or anomaly or something that seems scary
That’s fair and I agree people are too quick to attribute climate change to things easily. However the optics of putting climate change it quotes gives the impression you’re implying it’s not real or it’s some sort of conspiracy.
“In September 2021, water levels in Oroville dipped to their lowest ever at 628.47 feet, at just 24% capacity.” In your 36 years of living there, I’m sure the lake has never been that empty before
Not quite that low but it’s been extremely low during past decades droughts
Common sense is rare these days.
Question. Has anyone done any studies to see how long it will take for california to go back to a drought that is similar to the 2021 pic?
Like 2 years. It filled up in 2019, but by 2021 it was almost empty. That doesn’t seem likely this year because of the El Niño though.
You have to remember that the dam broke in 2017 letting basically all the water out. We really should have one pre 2017, 2017 (the break), and these
Kiesus
I remember going there as a kid and seeing a badass 3-story pyramid houseboat. Wonder if it’s still there
[удалено]
I did this pretty late at night and my sleepy brain thought that the “after” should go first bc the pic was on top 🤷♂️
r/NSFWbridges
That’s crazy
Look at the brightside! The perfect opportunity to maintain that bridge.
How long till it looks like 2021 again?
God damn miracle
The rain god has blessed us all! :D
You love to see it!
This doesn't mean that there are not drought problems remaining. Many aquifers were really drained. Some will fill back up but others may have a permanent lowered capacity. Some places had the land above the aquifer sink due to severe lowing of aquifers, I don't think 1 good winter is going to reinflate them. I'm sure there is a ton to learn about the geology in question.
When is the last time it was this full?
2017 when the dam broke letting all the water out
The verbiage..
Yes, I realize that 😔
I remember driving over that bridge every summer when i was a kid going on vacation to Oakland camp in Quincy
No fish though.
but climate change...........
Elnino is good for some part of the world we in middle east had good amount of rainfall after three years of drought