Irvine Lake began draining this morning ahead of the El Niño and to upgrade the 93-year-old reservoir.
Aside from making room for the upcoming El Niño, the water draining is part of the Irvine Ranch Water District’s $470 million Santiago Creek Dam improvement, which provides drinking and irrigation water to 1.5 million residents in Orange County.
“We need to replace the outlet tower and the spillway completely,” said John Fabris, a spokesperson for Irvine Ranch Water District. “We’re going to bring it up to state-of-the-art in terms of seismic safety.”…