Dropping it 50ft will give them the cushion to continue to manage the outflow from the dam using both the power plant and the regular spillway without letting the lake reach the emergency spillway level.
Two idiotic forces are at work; first and foremost has been the spending of billions on the train to nowhere when the spillway should have been fixed during the dry years. Second idiotic force was curtailing the outflow of the damaged spillway to reduce silt in the river to protect fish.
Both of those now have at least 120k people no longer in their homes.
LIVE STREAM VIDEO & REPORTS: Oroville Dam Spillway Imminent Failure Live Coverage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxbDJlruQ-4
Our lake - Travis - in centex is very similar to yours in construction and geology, although we have no ‘extra’ spillways and it’s 720ft tall. In our 4yr drought, it dropped almost 50ft. Our river authority is quite happy to drown us behind the dam to avoid splashing the boats docked in Lake Austin below, done it many times to us. Even the governor has a hard time forcing them to open #2 of the 8 floodgates.
Intentionally dropping our lake 50ft would take Months.. but we recovered 50’ of depth in one month two years ago, torrential rains.
Same idiotic mentality here do everything to protect salamanders. $$$$$$$$$$$. Ain't that right, txhurl. Haha, our cats are constantly eating salamanders.