Lakes

Local water authorities have begun closing some of the state's prime fishing lakes in an effort to keep an infestation of tiny quagga mussels from fouling drinking water supplies for nearly 375,000 residents and threatening fish populations. The closure two weeks ago of Lake Casitas, a favorite of bass anglers, to recreational boat use was followed within days by similar action at Westlake Lake in eastern Ventura County.

Snowmelt will raise half-empty Lake Powell 50 feet, opening a popular shortcut for boaters for the first time in five years, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said. The Castle Rock Cut -- still a stretch of exposed rock -- will let house boats get to beaches and Rainbow Bridge National Monument more quickly from Wahweap Marina by shaving a dozen miles off the trip. The peninsula is expected to be covered by enough water for boating by mid-June.

Fearing a dam break that could cause catastrophic flooding in Kentucky and Tennessee, the Army Corps of Engineers has begun lowering the water level on Lake Cumberland. The measure was aimed at reducing pressure on the weakened 240-foot-high dam, said Lt. Col. Steven J. Roemhildt. "We must take this emergency action to reduce risk to the public and to the dam itself," he said.

Was that a smile on his toothy snout, or was Reggie the reclusive reptile just humming "See You Later, Alligator," as he floated Monday across a Harbor City pond? Stunned visitors at Lake Machado near the Harbor Freeway watched as Reggie resurfaced after an 18-month absence to spend 90 minutes leisurely gliding near a park observation deck. "He looked back at us with a bewildered look in his eye," said eyewitness Mike Molina, an aide to Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

A lake in southern Chile has mysteriously disappeared. The lake in the Magallanes region in Patagonia had a surface area of about 10 acres and was fed mostly by water from melting glaciers. Juan Jose Romero, regional director of Chile's National Forestry Corp., said, "The only things left were chunks of ice on the dry lakebed and an enormous fissure."

Scientists said Tuesday that a lake in southern Chile that mysteriously disappeared last month had developed a crack that allowed the water to drain away. A buildup of water opened a crack in an ice wall along one side of the lake. Water flowed through the crack into a nearby fjord and from there into the sea, leaving behind a dry lakebed littered with icebergs. The lake is in the Magallanes region in Patagonia and is fed by meltwater from glaciers.

The state Division of Wildlife is stocking hundreds of high mountain lakes with fingerling trout dropped from hoppers mounted in Cessna 185 aircraft, aquatic biologist Sherman Hebein said in Aspen. The planes, traveling about 85 mph, get within 125 feet of the lake surface before releasing the fish so they don't dry out before they hit the water.

Float into autumn on the blue waters of Arizona's Lake Powell with a lodging-and-boating package that starts at $175 a night. The deal: The Bed-and-Breakfast package includes overnight accommodations at Lake Powell Resort, breakfast for two in the hotel's Rainbow Room and a three-hour scenic boat tour of Navajo Canyon.

The government announced a $14.5-billion plan to clean up Lake Tai, in a densely populated area northwest of Shanghai, where an algae infestation this year forced the suspension of water supplies to millions of people.

PORTOLA, Calif. -- California officials have completed the grim task of collecting fish killed in last month's poisoning of Lake Davis to exterminate the northern pike. California Department of Fish and Game crews have gathered nearly 50,000 pounds of fish since Sept. 21, when 16,000 gallons of a toxic chemical were poured into the Sierra Nevada reservoir.