The decimation of Lake Oroville: Houseboats crowd together in a trickle of water after California droughts reduce the reservoir levels to an 'historic low' of 24 per cent capacity
Houseboats have been forced to crowd together on the trickle of water that remains in Lake Oroville after the California droughts reduced the reservoir's water levels to an 'historic low' of 24 percent capacity.
The water level in the vital California reservoir is now at its lowest since September 1977, with locals saying they have never seen it so empty and officials warning of a detrimental impact on the local environment.
In a storage yard near the lake, dozens of other boats have been stacked on wood by their owners in order to prevent their homes being marooned in the lake.
Lake Oroville, found Butte County in northern California some 60 miles north of Sacramento, has been the site of a number of environmental disasters in recent years.
In 2017, hundreds and thousands of lives were threatened when huge floods damaged the Oroville dam. The area was also left charred by the Camp Fire of 2018, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history.
Now, changing weather conditions have offered a contrast from the floods of 2017, with hot temperatures and low rainfall leaving miles of dusty, cracked and dried up shorelines exposed to the sun.
Pictured: Before and after satellite images showing the change in water levels in Lake Oroville due to the drought in California
Houseboats sit in a narrow section of water in a depleted Lake Oroville in Oroville, California on September 5, 2021
Pictured: Before the drought, houseboats are dwarfed by the steep banks of Lake Oroville on April 27, 2021 in Oroville, California
Houseboats rest in a channel at Lake Oroville State Recreation Area in Butte County, Calif., on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021. At the time of this photo, the reservoir was at 24 percent of capacity and 34 percent of its historical average
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'Every year, there seems to be a disaster and issues,' California State Parks Public Safety Chief Aaron Wright told KCRA, a Sacramento NBC-affiliate news station.
Wright also responded to help the area through the Camp Fire which killed 85 people, burned 153,336 acres and proved to be the costliest environmental disaster in the world in 2018 in terms of insured losses.
'It's just sad, it's hard for the communities,' Wright said. 'The park visitors keep getting impacted.'
Normally, the landscape around the lake would be bustling with vacationers - families, fishermen and water sports enthusiasts. But now, just a few dozen houseboats remain on the lake, drifting on the ever-shrinking water surface.
'What we are seeing is people who have houseboats, have trouble going out and checking on them, and utilizing their investments,' Wright told KCRA.
'These houseboats range from $50,000 to $1,000,000. Those are investments you want to access on the water.'
Those trying to get their houseboats on the lake are no longer able to do so on their own on account of all boat launch areas being closed due to low water levels.
Staff at the Bidwell Canyon Marina have built a markshift dock to pick up passengers and shuttle them to their houseboats.
While before the drought there was 24-hour access to lake recreation, it must now end by sunset.
Mark Russell, who drove to visit Oroville Dam with his family from Farifield, told KCRA that he had been living in California his whole life and had never seen the lake's water level so low.
'The water was actually all the way in the parking lot and I had to go on my knees to get to the boat ramp,' he said, remembering the lake from just ten years ago. But now, those visiting the lake will see the opposite, with Russell lamenting the frequency of droughts in the state.
Houseboats sit on blocks to escape being marooned in a depleted Lake Oroville in Oroville, California on September 5, 2021
Visitors look out over Lake Oroville as water levels remain low due to continuing drought conditions in Butte County, Calif., Sunday, Aug. 22, 202
A kayaker paddles on the surface of Lake Oroville as water levels remain low due to continuing drought conditions in Oroville, Calif., Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021
A kayaker fishes in Lake Oroville as water levels remain low due to continuing drought conditions in Oroville, California, Sunday, August 22, 2021
Pictured: Satellite images show Lake Oroville before and after the drought that has left water levels low
'Droughts are unfortunately becoming more and more the norm,' Russell said to the Sacramento news station. 'It's sad, you know.'
California State Park's Wright said the low levels are also impacting the local wildlife, saying that animals like deer are having to travel much venture much further from shelter to reach the water - leaving them exposed to predators for longer.
Concerns have also been raised about the lake's salmon population, with the higher temperatures likely to endanger the fish.
The lake is treated as a keystone facility within the California State Water Project. It stores water that is used to provide for millions of people across the state, and provides flood protection among other vital functions for the region.
Last month, US officials declared the first-ever federal water shortage, from a river that serves 40 million people in the West - triggering cuts to some Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico farmers next year amid the gripping drought.
Water levels at the largest reservoir on the Colorado River - Lake Mead - have fallen to record lows in recent weeks.
The Enterprise Bridge is seen from above over Lake Oroville in Oroville, California on September 5, 2021
A burned property is seen over a depleted Lake Oroville in Oroville, California on September 5, 2021
Houseboats sit in a narrow section of water in a depleted Lake Oroville in Oroville, California on September 5, 2021
Houseboats sit in a depleted Lake Oroville in Oroville, California on September 5, 2021
Along its perimeter, a white 'bathtub ring' of minerals outlines where the high water line once stood, underscoring the acute water challenges for a region facing a growing population and a drought that is being worsened by hotter, drier weather brought on by climate change.
Lake Mead supplies water to millions of people in Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico, with Arizona set to be hardest hit and lose 18 percent of its share from the river next year, or 512,000 acre-feet of water.
That's around eight percent of the state's total water use.
An acre-foot is enough water to supply one to two households a year.
Nevada will lose about seven percent of its allocation, or 21,000 acre-feet of water. But it will not feel the shortage largely because of conservation efforts.
California is spared from immediate cuts because it has more senior water rights than Arizona and Nevada.
Mexico will see a reduction of roughly five percent, or 80,000 acre-feet.
Meanwhile, California and much of the U.S. West have seen dozens of wildfires in the past two months as the drought-stricken region sweltered under hot, dry weather and winds drove flames through bone-dry vegetation.
A view of the white rings of where the water level once was within Lake Mead, as viewed from the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Boulder City, Nevada, USA, 20 August 2021
A boat sails close to the Hoover Dam near Boulder City, Arizona, USA, 20 August 2021
Firefighters work through the night to protect homes on Meadowlark Way off of Sly Park Road in Sly Park, California, United States on August 27, 2021
A deer jumps wanders through burned rubble in Greenville, California on September 4, 2021. -he Dixie fire destroyed most of the town of Greenville, California and still continues to burn
In California, nearly 14,500 firefighters were battling 13 large, active fires. Since the year began, more than 7,000 wildfires have devoured 3,000 square miles (nearly 8,000 square kilometers), Cal Fire said.
No deaths had been reported specifically from the fires. However, authorities said two people assigned to fire-related duties died from illness this week, officials said.
Marcus Pacheco, an assistant fire engine operator for Lassen National Forest with 30 years of experience, died on Thursday. He was assigned to the Dixie Fire burning north of the Caldor Fire, authorities said.
Other details weren't immediately released.
The Dixie Fire began in mid-July in the northern Sierra Nevada and is the second-largest wildfire in recorded state history. It has burned nearly 1,400 square miles (3,625 square kilometers) in five counties and three national parks and forests, according to Cal Fire.
A retired firefighter who was hired to help with the French Fire died from complications of COVID-19, authorities said. He was identified as Allen Johnson.
'Our team, the firefighting community and the world lost a great friend, mentor, teacher and comrade last night,' said a Facebook posting last Wednesday from California Interagency Incident Management Team 14.
The French Fire in Kern County was 52% contained after burning about 41 square miles (106 square kilometers).
Fire concerns have shut down all national forests in the state.
California has experienced increasingly larger and deadlier wildfires in recent years as climate change has made the West much warmer and drier over the past 30 years. Scientists have said weather will continue to be more extreme and wildfires more frequent, destructive and unpredictable.