T.U.D. Not Concerned With Low Snowpack … Not Yet

Sonora, CA — For the time being Tuolumne Utilities District General Manager Pete Kampa is not overly concerned with the low snowpack level in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Recently the State Department of Water Resources measured the overall snowpack level at 61 percent of normal but Kampa maintains that Tuolumne County’s two main sources of water, Pinecrest Lake and Lyons Reservoir, will fill and spill to adequately supply summer needs.

At the same time Kampa says his agency keeps a close eye on the figures released by the D.W.R. in Sacramento and even more attention will be paid to them as we enter the spring months.

Kampa adds that the amount of water used by T.U.D. and its customers is far less than the capacity of Pinecrest and Lyons Reservoir combined. Kampa comments, "As long as they fill or come close to filling we’ll be in good shape even as we were during the 1976-77 drought."

Finally Kampa adds that his agency is receiving a number of calls asking if T.U.D. is or will institute a voluntary or mandatory conservation program. "At the present time we have no plans to do so because any water that is conserved now will spill over the dam at the time that the lakes fill."

Written by bill.johnson@mlode.com