Lake Murray Drops As It Provides Backup for S.D.

The water level at Lake Murray, a reservoir besieged by problems in recent years, is down several feet because of mechanical failure at another reservoir, according to a city official.

A broken pump at the San Vicente Reservoir in East County has caused Lake Murray “to have to pitch relief” and serve the city with backup drinking water, according to Will Smiffin, deputy director of water production for the city of San Diego.

“There’s no problem with Lake Murray--let me make that very clear,” Smiffin said Wednesday. “But while we’re draining it, we’ve decided to take it down a little lower and get rid of some more of that darned hydrilla.”

Lake Murray was closed to public use for almost a decade after hydrilla--a fish-killing plant also known as “the Green Monster”--was discovered there in the late 1970s.

A native of South America, hydrilla resembles aquarium grass and can grow as much as 2 inches a day. The plant has the reputation in Florida--where the state spends $8 million a year to fight it--of clogging waterways and shutting down powerboat engines.

Lake Murray reopened for public use in 1985, and recreational uses have recently been expanded to include fishing and boating--once the most popular pastimes at the lake--as well as windsurfing, Smiffin said.

“We’ve discovered about 25 (hydrilla) plants in the last few days, so there’s no cause for alarm,” he said. “There used to be millions.”

The water level at the lake will drop even more over the next three to four days, Smiffin said.