No cold water for salmon?

The rapid diminishing of the “cold water pool” in Shasta Lake could be detrimental to salmon populations in the Sacramento River.

Due to California’s dry winter, Shasta Lake could run out of cold water before salmon migrate up the Sacramento River for the fall and winter spawning runs, according to The Sacramento Bee.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which owns Shasta Lake, is mandated under the Endangered Species Act to regulate the release of the reservoir’s cold-water supply. On May 29, the State Water Resources Board loosened water regulations to allow the bureau to shorten the river’s official cold-water area—where a critical 56-degree temperature must be maintained—by about seven miles closer to the lake than usual.

The move will reduce the amount of water leaving Shasta Lake, in the hope that the cold-water supply will stretch through the summer and into the fall.