Officials celebrate recovery of iconic American lake as water levels surge by billions of gallons
Lake Tahoe in California has seen 16 billion gallons of water flow into it in less than a month. KarBrains reported.
According to data from the US Geological Survey, enough water to fill 90 thousand Olympic swimming pools flowed into the lake between February 15 and March 3.
The addition increased the lake’s depth from approximately 7.5 feet to 8 feet at the location of the lake’s gauging station.
The force behind the sudden and welcome flood was a series of winter storms that hit the region.
Not only did the rain fall around the lake, but significant precipitation also occurred in the mountains above the basin, feeding the streams that flow into the lake.
This is good news for the Lake Tahoe area, as the beginning of February was unfortunately dry. The lake is a vital water source for the region covering parts of California and Nevada, including the Reno area.
This is the latest in a series of weather events helping California recover from a long drought. For years, the region has received far less water than its normal average and far less than residents and businesses use.
Severe droughts like this can have long-lasting consequences because residents rely on groundwater and other resources that are not easily renewable.
Draining aquifers and similar water resources not only consumes water that needs to be replenished; It also reduces the land’s capacity to hold more water in the future. The ground compresses and sinks, making it difficult for water to be reabsorbed.
This type of subsidence also damages property, thus being detrimental in the short and long term.
But this year, parts of California and Nevada received 300% of normal rainfall, which helped reverse some of the drought damage in that region.
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