The U.S. Forest Service and recreational interests at Pinecrest Lake have tried for years to keep the Lake level as high as possible until the end of the recreation season at Labor Day. In direct opposition to that goal, the Tuolumne Utilities District has lobbied to have the minimum Lake level set as low as possible n order to increase water diversions for downstream TUD customers. That conflict at times has pitted TUD against the State Water Board, which has the authority to set the Labor Day lake level.
Now, in the midst of the drought and a statewide focus on maximizing water to residents, the Water Board is recommending a major change in the minimum lake level at Pinecrest. The Lake would be significantly lowered in normal or dry water years to maximize water downstream for TUD customers. On many hot summer weekends, when up to 25,000 recreational visitors crowd Pinecrest, a bathtub ring of mud and gravel would dominate the Lake. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is the official owner and manager of Pinecrest Lake. Through a years-long federal hydro-relicensing process, PG&E was given a tentative mandate to aim to keep the Lake at 5,608’ or higher through the summer season. In response, TUD pushed to drop the lake level to 5,606’ and even lower in dry years. Since that initial lake level mandate, the Water Board each year has considered exceptions requested by TUD to meet customer demands. Now the Water Board proposes to drop the Lake level all the way down to 5,600’ in dry years. The Water Board proposal acknowledges that in 36 years between 1974 and 2010, the earliest end of spill in 2007 resulted in the Lake being lowered to 5,604’ by Labor Day. But instead of using that record low as the new minimum, the Water Board responded to pressure from PG&E, TUD, and Tuolumne County and now proposes an even lower lake level of 5,600’.
Conveniently for PG&E, the new minimum lake level would allow the release of more water before Labor Day and would potentially allow PG&E to generate more hydroelectricity at the Spring Gap powerhouse during a time when demand for energy and electric profits are both high. CSERC is urging the Water Board to only allow a significant lowering of the Lake (and the impacts to scenic and recreational values) in years when TUD mandates water conservation by its customers. We also are advocating for keeping the Lake level at 5,604’ in Normal-Dry water years, while still allowing it to be dropped all the way down to 5,600’ before Labor Day in dry years.