Lower Lake at Castaic to Open for Swimmers

Recent storms have prompted state officials to increase the water level in the lower lake at Castaic, enabling the popular facility to open Saturday for swimming.

“You’d be surprised how many people will come to our beaches even in bad weather,” said Brian Roney, assistant superintendent of the Castaic Lake Recreation Area.

Earlier this month, county officials warned that the five-year statewide drought might force them to ban swimming at the lower lake, which annually attracts 200,000 carloads of bathers.

But the seven-month swimming season will begin as scheduled Saturday, in time for spring break from local schools, because the state Department of Water Resources has agreed to release runoff from this month’s storms into the lower lake, which is used only for recreation and irrigation of landscaping in the park, Roney said. Water levels at the lower lake, which is normally about 60 feet deep, had dropped 10 feet because of the drought, he said.

Upper Castaic Lake, a reservoir for drinking water, is used by boaters and jet-skiers but not swimmers.

“We’re really excited. There would have been a humongous number of disappointed people if we’d had to keep out swimmers,” Roney said. “We were facing a situation where we would have had to lay off 45 lifeguards, and now we don’t.”

The county relies on the $4 fee it charges each car to pay for maintenance and operation of the 8,000-acre park, which is about 10 miles north of Santa Clarita. “Without the revenue from the beaches, there would have been no fix-up,” Roney said.

The lake will be open every day through April 14 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will then be open only on weekends until June, and then will be open daily through September.

The lower lake was closed to swimmers several times last summer, including over the Labor Day weekend, because of a bacteria problem caused by too many bathers.

The county is now installing four aerators in the lower lake to help circulate the water, lowering the water temperature and cutting down on the presence of bacteria. Also, only 2,200 swimmers will be allowed each day to keep the bacteria within safe levels.