Lake Cachuma, the man-made lake created by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation after construction of the Bradbury Dam in the 1950s, is down to 7.5 percent capacity, according to sensors on Sept. 6. That’s one of the lowest levels on record since the dam was built, according to Fray Crease, manager for the Santa Barbara County Water Agency.
Once it reaches 12,000 acre-feet, she said, the water is not available for delivery or water supply. It becomes what Crease calls a “minimum pool,” or formerly called “deadpool,” she said.
“We need to have a certain minimum amount of water in the lake to convey state water,” Crease said.
Not including the drought, which has caused the lake to drop to historic lows, Crease said that the recent controlled release of water from the reservoir to recharge Santa Ynez Valley groundwater resources beginning on July 12 is partly to blame.
“Those releases are done annually for the benefit of downstream users,” Crease said.
Once the lake reaches the point of minimum pool, it becomes off limits for recreation purposes too, according to Jeff Lindgren, a Santa Barbara County parks operations manager.
“If there’s no water in the lake, it makes it difficult to allow people to fish and boat and access the recreation they’re used to at Lake Cachuma.”
This article appears in Sep 8-15, 2016.