Thursday April 4, 2024
Manteca/Ripon Bulletin —
New Melones Reservoir on the Stanislaus River is now at 2,010,765 acre feet of storage.
And the expectation is between the above average snowpack on April 1 plus continuing storms it could near its 2.4 million acre-foot capacity by month’s end.
“New Melones has been releasing above minimum baseflow for much of the winter and into spring because new Melones was relatively full in the fall and needed to maintain at or below 1.970 million acre feet for flood control purposes in the winter,” noted South San Joaquin Irrigation District General Manager Peter Reitkerk.
It means water releases will continue to be robust but not as heavy as a year ago.
The United States Geological Survey gauge on the San Joaquin River at the Airport Way bridge south of Manteca was at 13.35 feet Wednesday.