TUD seeks $23.4 million to complete Phoenix Reservoir restoration
The Tuolumne Utilities District Board of Directors voted 4-0 Tuesday to seek more than $23 million in additional grant funding to continue efforts to try to restore the man-made reservoir called Phoenix Lake, a project to improve water quality and increase storage capacity that has gained momentum in fits and starts, stalled for years, and remains unfinished. Phoenix is a reservoir, not a natural lake. Its surface area is about 88 acres when full, and it’s the primary drinking water source for about 10,000 TUD customers in Sonora, Jamestown, Mono Village and the Phoenix Lake area, according to TUD. Historians say a dam was first built there in the 1850s to enable hydraulic mining in the immediate aftermath of the Gold Rush. The original dam was destroyed in 1862.