Thursday May 18, 2023
ABC 10 —
No matter if it’s a dry year or wet year, there are continued pleas for more water storage. Now, an American River Basin study is showing how a strategically placed high Sierra reservoir might be part of the water solution.
The concern to capture Sierra runoff is seeing increased interest as California experiences even bigger climate whiplash years – going from droughts to floods.
The big snowpack in the Sierra this year stands out as an anomaly with climate models forecasting more rain than snow falling in the lower mountains by the end of the century. The other concern is the earlier runoff and having to store and manage reservoir water over a longer period of time through the dry summer months.
To help ease that tension, a new reservoir is being considered near Alder Creek in the Sierra. This is just above Pollock Pines in El Dorado County just off Highway 50.