Sean C. Morgan
February and March rains have improved the outlook for water this year, according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials.
As long as rain continues this spring, the Corps should be able to fill its reservoirs, said Laurie Nicholas, Willamette Valley Projects chief of water management.
The snow pack, which usually starts melting in April, is at about 60 percent of normal, though, she said, but the spring rain is primarily what fills the projects. Snow helps keep the lakes fuller longer, said Spokesman Scott Clemans.
“We’re in way better shape than Feb. 1. Feb. 1 was terrible.”
Rainfall is about 94 percent of average so far this year, Clemans said. That followed a dry January with a February and March that ran at 200 percent of the average for precipitation.
“Of course, we don’t start refilling our reservoirs till February,” Clemans said. “So that certainly helped out a lot.”
At this point, the Corps is treating it like a normal year, Clemans said. It looks like all of the projects will fill except Lookout Point, near Lowell, which has spillway gates undergoing repairs.
Green Peter Reservoir is on schedule, Clemans said. Monday it was at about 85 percent of its full pool and looking good. An anticipated bump in rain this week could increase inflows and fill it ahead of schedule, he said. It is scheduled to fill by mid-May.
The Corps will begin filling Foster in early May, Clemans said. In past years, the lake was filled and then drained for fish passage from mid-April to mid-May. That window has been moved up and finishes at the end of April after finishing operations of the spillway fish weir for juvenile and adult steelhead and juvenile spring Chinook.
Foster may be a couple of feet below full pool again this summer to help with an ongoing fish passage study that requires further operations with the spillway fish weir, he said. That decision isn’t final.