Army Corps of Engineers Ordered to Release water from Lake Kaweah
No Flooding Anticipated at this Time
As reported in the Exeter Sun-Gazette yesterday, the Army Corps of Engineers was ordered to release water from Lake Kaweah at maximum flow yesterday without appropriate notification. A water release at this volume has occurred only once, during the 2023 flood event. The planned release was expected to have an adverse effect on government infrastructure and private property, including agricultural property. Furthermore, the action would have significantly reduced the agricultural water store during what is expected to be a drought year. Accordingly, the orders were altered.
Three Rivers Together reached out to the Army Corp of Engineers this morning for an update. Our contact confirmed that the maximum release flow is 5500 cubic feet per second (cfs), and the staff is currently under orders to release the water at 1500 cfs.
Per orders, the staff increased the water release from 3 cfs to 11 cfs at 6:00 pm and slowly increased it to 55 cfs overnight.The flow was increased to 158 cfs at 5:00 am, 754 cfs at 6:00 am, 1354 cfs at 7:00 am, and 1517 cfs at 8:00 am. At 10:00, the dam was releasing about 1529 cfs.
According to our contact, the snow pack feeding Lake Kaweah is currently at 15-20% of average.
It is important to note that the situation is considered dynamic, and the orders may change.
For a chart detailing the amount of water being released, see https://www.spk-wc.usace.army.mil/fcgi-bin/hourly.py?report=trm
For a chart indicating the lake’s current level, see https://www.cnrfc.noaa.gov/obsRiver_hc.php?id=TMDC1
[Compiled by Laile Di Silvestro with data from the Army Corps of Engineers]