OROVILLE, Calif. (KERO) — Something positive has come out of all the California storms. The water levels at drought-stricken Lake Oroville, the second biggest reservoir in the state, have started to bounce back.
Surveyors measuring the reservoir have confirmed what's easy to see. This winter has brought a wealth of water to Lake Oroville.
The lake sunk to its lowest level in 2021. Around that time, more than 100 houseboats were hauled off the lake when the marinas dried up. Now, the houseboat habitat is back.
State water experts, like University of California (UC) Davis professor Jay Lund, are now less worried about the drought and instead more concerned about flooding.
"There's two kinds of water emergencies," said Lund. "When you have too much and when you have too little. Sometimes we have to worry about both in the same year and this is one of those years."
Lund says there is so much water this winter, Lake Oroville is being kept at 75 percent capacity to make room for what is forecasted to arrive in the last month of the water year.
