Associated Press
A vehicle made its way to a newly revealed piece of land at drought-stricken Folsom Lake in Granite Bay, Calif., last month.
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Friday, June 04, 2021 1:00 am
Severe drought sapping California's reservoirs
Associated Press
OROVILLE, Calif. – Each year Lake Oroville helps water a quarter of the nation's crops, sustain endangered salmon beneath its massive earthen dam and anchor the tourism economy of a Northern California county that must rebuild seemingly every year after unrelenting wildfires.
But the mighty lake – a linchpin in a system of aqueducts and reservoirs in the arid U.S. West that makes California possible – is shrinking with surprising speed amid a severe drought, with state officials predicting it will reach a record low later this summer.