In anticipation of the upcoming storms, Yuba Water Agency will begin releasing water from New Bullards Bar Dam and Reservoir on Wednesday, Mar. 8 to ensure the reservoir has enough room to store flows and snowmelt expected in the coming days.
Starting at 9 a.m., Yuba Water will begin making releases using the dam’s spillway. The agency expects to slowly ramp up releases until reaching approximately 4,000 cubic feet per second. Additional releases may be necessary as the forecast becomes more clearly defined.
“The storms that are forecast later this week are expected to be warmer than we’ve recently experienced,” said Yuba Water Director of Resource Planning John James. “We expect significant rainfall to occur in the watershed, as well as the possibility of additional runoff from snowmelt at lower elevations. Because of this and after analyzing the latest forecast data, we decided to proactively begin releasing water ahead of those storms.”
While these initial water releases aren’t anticipated to cause any adverse impacts, flows on the Yuba River will increase and can change suddenly.
Stay up-to-date on river conditions and learn more