Northern California Reservoir Runs Dry Mysteriously ‘Like A Bathtub Overnight,’ Leaving Thousands Of Fish Dead [Video]

Thousands of fish perished after the Mountain Meadows Reservoir in Northern California ran dry in the course of a single night, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The incident has left local residents perplexed, and they are demanding answers from the company that manages the reservoir.

Pacific Gas & Electric Company owns the water rights at the reservoir, also known as Walker Lake. The company used the reservoir for hydroelectric power generation. The reservoir, west of Susanville, is the upper-most facility in PG&E’s system, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Paul Moreno, spokesperson for PG&E, told KMAX-TV that the incident, which happened overnight on September 13, was due to prolonged drought.

“It’s the situation we worked hard to avoid,” he said, “but the reality is we’re in a very serious drought, there’s also concerns for the fish downstream. It’s a very flat, very shallow reservoir. At some point it was going to go dry.”

But residents are skeptical of the company’s explanation, saying there is more to the incident than meets the eye. Locals said people fished on the lake, fed by waters from creeks in Lassen County, on Saturday, but it “drained like a bathtub overnight.”

A local resident, Eddie Bauer, who has lived in the area for his entire life, told KMAX-TV he had never seen the lake, which drains into Lake Almanor, run dry and that the company owes residents an explanation.

Bauer said there was enough water left in the Lake to last at least two weeks.

The sudden loss of the reservoir left about 5,800 acres of mud and thousands of dead fish.

Bauer said, “Everywhere that you see that’s wet, there was water.”

Residents are irked about the loss of the fish, saying there should have been an arrangement to relocate the fish before letting the lake run dry.

Bauer said, “This makes me feel like they didn’t want to do a fish rescue and that it was easier to open that sucker up Saturday night.”

“… they didn’t want to do a fish rescue… it was easier to open that sucker up Saturday night.”

But PG&E officials deny allegations that they deliberately opened the dam, saying that the water simply ran out after the company stopped efforts to repair the outlet valve that was persistently clogged by accumulation of dead fish over many years.

Company officials said they had struggled with maintenance issues due to an outlet of the dam that was persistently clogged, preventing water being released downstream. The company allegedly decided in consultation with the government agencies not to prevent further outflows out of the reservoir and let the dam find its own level.

Residents alleged that with the decision the company simply refused to stop outflows when the reservoir reached its minimum level and deliberately allowed the lake to run dry, leaving thousands of fish high and dry overnight.

But the role of the government agencies in the final outcome was uncertain.

Video that emerged online (see below) after the incident shows hundreds of fish exposed above water, gasping as they expired.

Drone footage also gives a bird’s eye view of the overnight ecological disaster (see below).

Although residents are upset at the loss of their favorite fishing hole, federal wildlife agencies confirmed that none of the fish lost in the incident were listed as endangered or of concern to the agency.

Mountain Meadows Conservancy confirmed that the reservoir level had been at minimum since August due to the drought.

The incident has raised concerns about other reservoirs in the state hit by the prolonged drought. Doug Carlson, an official of the Department of Water resources, acknowledged that many California reservoirs have fallen below normal level.

[Images: YouTube screengrab: Peat12001; Tracy Keelan]