SAVE DONNER SUMMIT Read the definitive work on the West's water crisis: "CADILLAC DESERT - The American West and Its Disappearing Water" by Marc Reisner.

Watershed

Water is a scarce resource on the Summit, despite the 20 feet of snow on the ground in the winter. Lake Van Norden is much smaller than indicated on the map, as the dam created by PGE was removed in the 80s due to earthquake danger. The established sources of water are the Ice Lakes and a private lake owned by Sugar Bowl.

Ice Lakes are shallow and freeze in the winter. Ice Lakes are also extensively used for recreation in the summer. There is no other lake in California used by a water district as a source of water which freezes in the winter, and the Sierra Lakes County Water District (SLCWD) is carrying on pioneering research as no reference data exists. The ice thickness was measured at four feet last winter, and the interaction of the ice with the dam is not well understood.

Sugar Bowl has all its lake water already committed to snow making (to ensure opening of the resort at thanksgiving with a high probability) and entitled future developments (needed to fund the downhill resort operation).

The first map below shows watershed boundaries, as published by Royal Gorge LLC.. There are many challenges for Royal Gorge LLC:

• Royal Gorge LLC (Foster-Syme) proposes to create two new lakes as source of water and for recreation. Back of the envelop calculation clearly shows that the only way the lakes can be filled is through the pumping of the water which overflows the Ice Lakes dam for two months in the Spring. This excess water currently flows into the American River, is claimed by other communities, and the amount and timing varies year-to-year.
• The Palisades community is rightly concerned about the impact of the Lake Camp development on their pristine oligotrophic lake. In our opinion, the map does not correctly reflect the existing large drainage from the Lake Camp area into Palisade lake.
• The runoff into Ice Lakes from the future ski camp slopes can be enormous: spring avalanches are not uncommon.
• Large warm storms coming from the South sometimes interrupt the winter and bring torrential rain, rather than snow, with unusually warm temperature. In the winter 1997-1998, such a storm flooded the Soda Springs road under 4 feet of water. See details and photos at The January 1998 Flood.
• The amount of water available in the winter is very limited by the ice thickness.

The second map shows the SLCWD sphere of influence.

More on Royal Gorge LLC. water plans.

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