Reservoir low despite snow

FALLON -- Despite a healthy Sierra Nevada snowpack, Lahontan Reservoir's water level remains low because of the Jan. 5 irrigation canal break that swamped hundreds of homes in Fernley, officials said.

Dave Overvold, project manager of the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District, said Truckee River diversions to the canal have been cut since the breach. The 32-mile Truckee Canal takes water south to farmers around Fallon, about 60 miles east of Reno.

The Fallon-area reservoir held 101,900 acre-feet of water as of Jan. 31, about a third of its capacity of just more than 300,000 acre-feet, officials said.

About 326,000 gallons are in an acre-foot, which is enough water to supply two average Las Vegas homes for one year.

Overvold said it was too early to say if Fallon-area farmers would receive a full allotment of water this year.

"It depends on when the canal reopens," he told the Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard newspaper. "We will have some diversion (when it reopens), but not a lot. Hopefully, we can catch up."

He said he was cautiously optimistic the reservoir would reach the target level, which is based on the April-July forecasted flow at Fort Churchill west of Fallon.

The current forecast calls for 195,000 acre-feet at that time, more than the 30-year average of 178,000 acre-feet.

Federal Bureau of Reclamation officials have said water will not be allowed to flow into the canal again until it is deemed safe. They have offered no time estimate for when that will be.