Lake Oroville hits 100% capacity, houseboats back on water in time for summer
OROVILLE -- The record-breaking winter storms have created a dramatic turnaround for Lake Oroville. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) said it hit 100% capacity Friday.
Lake Oroville does not reach full capacity often. The DWR said it has only been full twice over the past 15 years.
"The last time we did see the lake at this full capacity during the springtime was back in 2012," said State Water Project Water Operations Manager Molly White with the DWR.
It is a welcomed sight for people wanting to get out on the water.
"It is amazing," said Eric Eastman who lives in Roseville. "It is just a different lake."
Eastman and his wife have been staying on their houseboat for a week, and were stocking up for another week on the water.
"It is beautiful," said Eastman. "All the boats that were in the parking lot are back in the lake."
In spring of 2021, the lake was so low that 125 houseboats were pulled from the water and dry docked in the parking lot of Bidwell Canyon Marina and Lime Saddle. 70 were pulled from Lime Saddle, and 55 were pulled from Bidwell Canyon.
In April 2023, houseboats got the green light to go back in the water. Aaron Wright with California State Parks said there are only about three houseboats that are still dry docked at Bidwell Canyon waiting for service. The rest are on the water.
"The lake's nice and full so the ramp is a very short walk which is wonderful," said Chris Moore who lives in Chico.
Moore is also a houseboat owner but said his did not get pulled from the lake.
"I just felt so bad for everybody because they were sitting here unable to enjoy the lake," Moore said.
Lake Oroville reached its lowest point on September 30, 2021 at 628.6 feet or 787,000 acre-feet of water.
"It is a creek in here when it was down to 20% full," said Eastman.
Eastman told CBS13 he used to have to walk down about 200 feet and 1000 feet out to reach the water. That is no longer the case as it now sits at 899.1 feet in June 2023, less than a foot from full capacity at 900 feet, or 3.5 million acre-feet.
Areas that were once dirt, are now covered with water.
With the snowmelt, water is flowing into the lake as quickly as it is being released. The current outflow is 11,319 Cubic Feet Per Second (CFS) and the current inflow is 11,631 CFS.
The DWR is releasing water at 8,000 CFS through the reopened Spillway and Hyatt Power Plant out to the Feather River.
The amount of water of flowing in and out of the lake right now, is enough to fill up more than 30,000 backyard swimming pools an hour.
The Spillway failed during a winter storm in 2017, forcing over 180,000 people to evacuate during the 2017 Oroville Dam Spillway Crisis. In 2018, the DWR rebuilt the Spillway to what it says is the highest engineering and safety standards.
"We are closely monitoring lake levels and inflows and downstream water supply needs to determine how much water to release from lake," said White.
Lake Oroville is expecting a great summer for recreation on the water.
"Nice full lake," said Moore. "Cannot complain about that."