Lake Kaweah is a reservoir near Lemon Cove in Tulare County, California. The lake is formed by Terminus Dam on the Kaweah River. The river originates in the Sierra Nevada mountains and drains about 560 sq mi (1,500 km2) into Lake Kaweah. From Lake Kaweah, the river passes near the city of Visalia as it flows west into the Tulare Lakebed. The lake has a capacity of 185,000 acre·ft (228,000,000 m3). A project to raise the lake 21 ft (6.4 m) was completed in 2004. The lake now impounds an additional 42,000 acre·ft (52,000,000 m3) and downstream flood protection to downstream communities and agricultural land has been increased.
From 2004 to 2009, Lake Kaweah was mostly empty due to severe drought conditions. Most of the Kaweah River valley could be seen and many trees and grasses grew over the original reservoir site. Over the years the natural ecosystem slowly rebounded, while parking lots and boat launches were moved down into the original lake bed. However, heavy snowpack in 2010 filled the lake to capacity, peaking on May 25, 2010 at full pool, requiring outflow of over 1,640 cubic feet per second (46 m3/s), while the outflow had not exceeded 100 cubic feet per second (2.8 m3/s) for half a decade. The inflow to the lake was as high as 2,000 cubic feet per second (57 m3/s) for many days in a row. The lake has since decreased by about 40,000 acre feet (49,000,000 m3).[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ California daily reservoir storage summary at California Department of Water Resources Data Exchange Center website
[edit] External links
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