Lake Shasta has released over 265 billion gallons of water in one month, releasing enough water to fill 540,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The lake has dropped eight feet over the past week, but officials aren't concerned, they're voluntarily releasing the water through Shasta Dam because the lake's levels were too high for February.
Releases from the dam, also known as "flood operations", started on January 31. Officials began the releases after a series of atmospheric rivers brought excessive precipitation to the Golden State throughout January and February. Another moisture-laden storm hit California over the weekend.
In the month since the releases began this year, more than 265 billion gallons of water have been released from the reservoir. Before the flood operations, water officials were releasing slightly over 3 million gallons per day for normal wintertime releases, said Dan Bader, area manager at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
According to the Northern California Water Association, "Historically, essentially all outflow from Shasta Dam travels through northern California to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta southwest of Sacramento."
Despite the releases, Lake Shasta is still in a much-improved state compared with last year. As of Monday morning, its water levels were at 1,038 feet—where it has remained since last Friday. This time last year, the lake was at 997 feet, and in February 2022 it was at 938 feet.
Information sourced by Newsweek.
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