Thousands of fish die when Calif. lake runs dry overnight

But now, residents living near Mountain Meadows Reservoir, also known as Walker Lake, have reported something truly astounding – the lake has disappeared entirely.

Video that emerged online (see below) after the incident shows hundreds of fish exposed above water, gasping as they expired.

Bauer mentioned that, the lake water rights were owned by a hydroelectric power generating company named Pacific Gas and Electric Co. Now the reservoir is dry and all the fish are dead. The utility also reduced water outflows from the lake, he said, but didn’t completely shut them off due to concerns for fish downstream.

Vanished: California Department of Fish and Wildlife said that they were notified about the fish problem at the lake only days before it went dry, and that it was too late to do anything at that point.

Some residents blamed the fact that the creeks normally flowing into the lake are being used by ranches and not bringing more water to the reservoir as its supply slowly trickled down. If it was draining, there would have been enough time to relocate the fish in the area, and one resident told CBS13 that perhaps PG&E opened up the dam to avoid having to proceed with the relocations.

Drone footage also gives a bird’s eye view of the overnight ecological disaster (see below). A spokesperson for PG&E tells the Sacramento Bee that with California into year four of its massive drought, the reservoir has been under its minimum water requirement for weeks. He and other residents now want answers as to why and how this could have happened.

But PG&E officials deny allegations that they deliberately opened the dam, saying that the water simply ran out after the company stopped efforts to fix the outlet valve that was persistently clogged by accumulation of dead fish over many years.

“The reservoirs are all continuing to be far below normal”, Carlson told CBS Sacramento.

He says there is no question water concerns are still a very serious issue across the state.