Anonymous ID: 5942be July 29, 2021, 2:35 p.m. No.14224561   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>4586 >>4629

OROVILLE, Calif. - People living in Oroville say they are confused as to why their park beach is flooding during a drought.

Kayakers, sand and the sounds of the Feather River are common at Oroville's Riverbend Park.

"It is naturally beautiful," said Beth Dunn, a Butte County resident.

But what Dunn doesn't think is beautiful is the excess water during a drought.

 

"There's a lot of questions as to why the river has been at flood stage through most of the summer," Dunn explained. "Right now behind me you're looking at about half of the beach, the rest of it is pristine white sand and it's washing away."

 

And the beach is not the only thing being impacted. Water is also making its way down to nearby walking paths.

"There's a little man-made path that people have worn into the gravel to try to go alongside and avoid," Dunn said.

"We're living with a mud puddle now," said Janine Cody, a regular park-goer.

 

"Why is the (Oroville) lake dry and the (Feather) river flooded?" asked Dunn.

"I can see the confusion again with the level of the lake compared to the river," said Shawn Rohrbacker.

Rohrbacker is the general manager for Feather River Recreation and Park District, which manages the beach.

 

He said those river levels are handled by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) but he has an idea of why the river is the way it is.

"I think there's two big factors," Rohrbacker explained "one is water users downstream, farmers the whole state water project. That and the salmon spawning."

And when it comes to the beach eroding Rohrbacker says the public should not worry.

"It will erode some of the sand but otherwise it mostly stays in place. We do maintain it to replace some of it," Rohrbacker explained.

 

An immediate answer - but in the future park-goers want transparency as to what happens in their local waterways.

"So if there is a question we know who to call," Dunn said.

Action News Now has reached out to the DWR several times for comment but we have not heard back.

Rohrbacker said his department sets aside about $5,000 for maintenance of the beach and that the beach was designed to stay in place with these low rises in the river.

https://www.actionnewsnow.com/content/news/Oroville-residents-wondering-why-Feather-River-is-flooding-local-beach-while-Lake-Oroville-is-dry-574963521.html