Visitors to the Loch Lomond Recreation Area, which is nestled up in a narrow canyon in the Santa Cruz Mountains accessed by a windy road up from Lompico, find it odd it is owned and managed by the City of Santa Cruz Water Department. Especially when the city limit line is a good ten miles down the valley.
Many first time visitors to this “gem in the Santa Cruz Mountains” frequently report they had no idea such a beautiful mountain lake was basically in their own backyard. As natural and remote as it seems, Loch Lomond is a man-made reservoir that has been serving as the City of Santa Cruz’s “savings account” for drinking water storage since the rammed-earth dam, the Newell Creek Dam, was completed in 1960.
After almost 60 years of service, the inlet/outlet allows a controlled flow of water through a dam. It is in need of a complete upgrade, including a new, 10-foot diameter tunnel dug around the west abutment of the dam and new inlet/outlet structures both underwater in the reservoir and at the toe of the dam.
“Replacement of the inlet/outlet pipe in the Newell Creek Dam is a big piece of a planned overhaul of the City’s water system. Much of the system, including the dam, is over 50 years-old and needs to be modernized,” said Rosemary Menard, Director of the City’s Water Department, in an email to the Press Banner.
The City’s Water Department hosted an open house June 23 for a no-cost opportunity (entry fee is usually $8 per car) to appreciate the beauty of the two-mile long reservoir and the recreation area around it, as well as Loch Lomond’s role in the City of Santa Cruz’s water supply system. It was also an opportunity to introduce this large public works project to ratepayers, with a preliminary cost estimate of $50 million, who may or may not have visited Loch Lomond before.
According to the City’s 2015 Urban Water Management Plan, the City releases a minimum of about 650,000 gallons per day through the Newell Creek Dam, which insures the overall health of Newell Creek and the San Lorenzo River downstream, the fish populations that live in them, as well as water for the residents of Santa Cruz.
“The reservoir acts like the city’s bank account for water,” said Neil Christen, Water Conservation Representative for the Water Department, at the open house. Releases from Loch Lomond provide an average of about 14 percent of the city’s water supply, and that climbed closer 20 percent during the worst part of the drought, when larger “withdrawals” became necessary. Almost half of the water consumed by the City of Santa Cruz is drawn from the San Lorenzo River, and summertime “withdrawals” from the Loch Lomond help keep the river flowing.
Because Loch Lomond is a working reservoir, the first priority of the city rangers who police and manage the recreation area is to protect the city’s water supply, which requires no skin contact with the water- no swimming, float devices or even wading is allowed in Loch Lomond. The second priority is to preserve and protect the hiking, fishing, picnicking and overall natural beauty of the recreation area for the visiting public.
No privately owned boats are allowed on the water without first getting decontaminated and stored onsite. The “no drop-in boat policy”, meaning that no canoes, kayaks or inflatable boats can be launched on the lake on a “drop-in” basis, is to protect the reservoir from an invasive species of mollusk, the quagga/zebra mussel. This small, invasive mollusk has caused havoc in the piping systems of reservoirs across the mid-west as well as in California, and keeping Loch Lomond free of any such invasion is a high priority for the rangers and park staff.
Along with a limited number of boat storage slots, that are routinely filled each season, the recreation area has a small fleet of row boats, electric motor powered boats, paddle boats and kayaks available for rent, at reasonable prices. Fishing licenses, basic fishing gear, bait and snacks are also available at the park store.
Most weekend mornings during the summer there is a cadre of truly devoted local fishermen waiting for the gate to open at 7 a.m., who usually have all 10 of the available electric motor powered boats rented and have lines in the water for trout and bass well before more casual visitors arrive later in the morning.
Visiting Loch Lomond is something of a tradition for some families, yet also seems to be something of a local, well-kept secret for others. Occasionally there are grandfather, father and grandson trios of fishermen, with the elder reporting they have been fishing the lake more-or-less since it opened. Loch Lomond was stocked about three weeks ago with 2,000 pounds of trout from a fishery in Napa, and reports are the trout fishing is good.
The rangers at Loch Lomond take advantage of the outdoor education opportunities at the lake, instructing 14 classes of fifth graders with a watershed interpretive program this last school year. Rangers also conducted 13 “Trout in the Classroom” events where students release tiny trout fry into Loch Lomond, in addition to “Loch Walks” for adults.
Loch Lomond will be getting more attention from environmentalists, engineers and hydrologists from down in town as the inlet/outlet works project progresses. A “Public Scoping Meeting” that initiates the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the project is scheduled for July 18, 6:30 to 8:00 pm, in the Santa Cruz Police Department Community Room, located at 155 Center Street. More information about the project is available on the Water Department’s website at: http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/government/city-departments/water
