LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. (KERO) — It has been a challenge to fill up Lake Isabella this spring.
With threats of a big runoff from the Sierra Nevadas coupled with unpredictable temperature swings, local officials are hoping there is enough left at the higher elevations to raise the water level to the limit. According to Kern County Water Master Mark Mulkay, officials need to save as much water as possible to try and hit that mark.
Mulkay says that officials are going to ask the Army Corps of Engineers to cut back the release from Lake Isabella into the lower Kern River. At this time, the lake is sitting at more than 480,000 acre-feet. The lake's limit is nearly 568,000 acre-feet, leaving space to fill.
Officials have said that the lake needs to reach capacity in order for the Army Corps to sign off on repairs made to the Isabella Dam.
