Billions of gallons of water flowing into Lake Shasta push reservoir level up 27 feet

Pushed by above normal rainfall for this time of year, the water level at Lake Shasta has risen nearly 27 feet since Jan. 1, brightening the outlook for agencies, irrigators and wildlife that depend on water from the lake.

In January alone, the level of California's largest reservoir rose 20 feet, according to figures from the state Department of Water Resources. And by Feb. 9, the water level reached its highest level so far this year, 1,040 feet above feet sea level and 27 feet above the Jan. 1 watermark.

A fuller Lake Shasta was good news to Don Bader, the area manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages Shasta Dam.

"It looks like we will be plum full at Shasta, so we're managing it so we don't fill up too quick. So we're looking very, very positive on our outlook right now," Bader said.

To keep the lake from filling too quickly, the bureau more than doubled the amount of water released from the dam starting Jan. 31. As of Tuesday, nearly 14,000 cubic feet per second was being released from the dam.

Bader said the higher releases were necessary to make room for more runoff from storms that arrived this week.

A full lake is good news to agencies like the city of Redding and the Anderson Cottonwood Irrigation District, which receive allocations of water released from the lake into the Sacramento River.

The bureau sent a notice Thursday to senior water rights holders, such as Redding, the irrigation district and other agencies that because of the high lake levels they would receive 100% of their water allocations from the Sacramento River.

Other water agencies in the North State, such as the Bella Vista Water District, Clear Creek Community Services District and Shasta Community Services District, will be notified next week about their water allocations, Bader said.

As recently as 2022, drought conditions in the North State were much worse. With historically low snow and rainfall, agencies all over the North State and California underwent severe water cutbacks.

But rainfall in 2023 and this year have helped the region recover. However, filling the lake requires enormous amounts of water, and the rainfall that fell over the North State in January swelled the creeks and rivers that feed the reservoir.

The greatest amount of water flowing into the lake so far this year was recorded on Jan. 22, according to the state, when an average 48,526 cubic feet per second flowed into the lake during a 24-hour period.

A cubic foot of water is 7.48 gallons, which means an average of 362,974 gallons of water flowed into the lake every second that day for 24 hours. Calculated out, a total 31.36 billion gallons of water flowed into lake Shasta on Jan. 22.

That's a number so large it is difficult to put into perspective. So consider this. How many swimming pools would that fill?

Figuring an average-sized swimming pool at about 20,000 gallons, the amount of water that flowed into Lake Shasta on Jan. 22 would fill about 1.5 million pools.

While 48,526 cubic feet of water per second is a lot, Bader said the lake has received more inflow in years past.

On Feb. 9, 2017, an average 130,000 cfs flowed into the lake during a 24-hour period. And then on Feb. 10, 2017, an average 109,000 cfs flowed into the lake, Bader said. During a three-day period following that rain storm, the lake rose 15 feet, he said.

Bader said this week's storms will likely continue to fill the lake. The National Weather Service said up to 1.5 inches of rain was expected to fall at Shasta Dam through Thursday. Redding could get about an inch of rain in that period.

Another storm forecast for Saturday and Sunday was forecast to bring about 1.75 inches of rain to Redding and up to 2.5 inches of rain at Shasta Dam, the weather service said.

Reporter Damon Arthur welcomes story tips at 530-338-8834, by email at damon.arthur@redding.com and on Twitter at @damonarthur_RS. Help local journalism thrive by subscribing today!

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Bureau: 'We will be plum full,' as Lake Shasta level rises 27 feet