LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Making the most of receding water levels at Southern California’s largest storage reservoir in the midst of the four-year statewide drought, Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors voted today to fully extend the boat ramp at Diamond Valley Lake.
The board authorized design and construction to lengthen by another 120 feet Diamond Valley Lake’s existing concrete boat ramp to its ultimate build-out elevation just above the reservoir’s bottom near the lake’s East Marina.
The less-than-half-full lake near Hemet in southwest Riverside County today offers visible evidence of the drought’s impacts on Southern California, particularly after Metropolitan temporarily suspended private boat launches in mid-April when lake levels dropped below the current launch ramp.
“If there is a positive side to the water challenges created by this historic drought, it’s that it has provided us with the opportunity to take advantage of low lake levels to complete the boat launch ramp,” said Metropolitan board Chairman Randy Record.
“Diamond Valley Lake has played an essential role in meeting the region’s water supply needs during the past four years. Southern California would be in a much more serious water supply situation today had it not been for the water that has been withdrawn from this lake,” Record added.
Water levels at the region’s largest lake are expected to recede by the end of the year to the lowest point since Metropolitan began filling DVL more than 15 years ago. Today, storage in Diamond Valley Lake is at 46 percent of capacity.
Nearly doubling the region’s surface water storage capacity when it was dedicated in 2000, Diamond Valley Lake has a storage capacity of 810,000 acre-feet of water, with a surface water elevation of 1,756 feet above sea level. Since the drought began in 2012, lake levels have dropped by nearly 100 feet. (An acre-foot of water is nearly 326,000 gallons, about the amount used by five to seven people in a year.)
Under today’s board action, the middle three launch lanes of the 11-lane ramp will be extended with cast-in-place concrete to an elevation of 1,640 feet. The end of the built-out ramp would correspond with lake levels of approximately 293,000 acre-feet. Diamond Valley currently holds about 372,000 acre-feet.
Final design of the extension is expected to be completed in July, with the completion of construction in November. The total estimated cost of extension is about $500,000, with all work completed by Metropolitan staff.
Diamond Valley Lake’s original 11-lane boat ramp in 2003 was partially extended a year later to 490 feet of ramp. In July 2009, Metropolitan’s board voted to extend the middle three lanes after low lake levels in the fall of 2008 first required Metropolitan to temporarily suspend public boat launches due to the drought. The lake—considered one of the premier fishing destinations in Southern California—reopened to private boat launches in December 2009 after the middle of the ramp was extended 250 feet to a total of 740 feet long.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 19 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other resource-management programs.
