Lakewatch
El Niño Delivers
by Greg Reis
An El Niño-driven wet winter has caused Mono Lake to rise and the Sierra snowpack to soar. The April 1 Gem Pass snowpack water content was 49.2 inches, about 154% of normal. Much of this accumulated during February: in Lee Vining we received over 15 inches of precipitation this season, with 8.5 inches of that occurring in February.The Mono Basin runoff forecast for the 1998 runoff year (April 1998-March 1999) is 134% of normal. This runoff is expected to cause Mono Lake to rise from its April 1, 1998, level of 6383.0 feet above sea level to just over 6384 by the end of the summer. This will be the highest Mono Lake has been since 1972!
Lake level gauge
A member recently asked us how we get lake level information. The lake level gauge is a staff gauge demarcated in tenths and hundreths of a foot. DWP staff read this gauge and, as the lake rises, replaces it if necessary (it will be replaced this year). When it is replaced, DWP surveys the elevation of the new gauge from an established nearby benchmark. When the reading gets to LA, DWP adds 0.4 feet to it, to make it agree with the official USGS datum. This number is reported on the LA Aqueduct reports, which we receive weekly by mail. Therefore there is about a week between when the gauge is read and when we see the data. We post the elevation on the Mono Lake Web Page and in the Information Center when it arrives.
Redefining water use
In the description of a "cfs" in the last "Lakewatch," we stated that one acre-foot is enough for a family of five for a year. Many publications (just like this one did) still cite this level of water use. A member wrote to point out that this amount of water would supply ten times as many families if they all conserved water at the high level his family of four does. Every 800 families conserving water at the level they do would conserve the equivalent of 1 cfs of water for one year. At this rate of water conservation, it would only take 110,000 water conserving families to completely replace what DWP was exporting in the 1970s from the Mono Basin. Just think of the incredible volume of water that can be saved if everyone conserves this actively! With your help in conserving as much water as you can, we can literally redefine water use in California!
Greg Reis is currently the Committee's Canoe Program Coordinator. He's a long-time lake-level wonk.
Return to Spring-Summer 1998 Newsletter
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