LAKE ELSINORE -- While Southwest County's prolonged drought is already affecting some lakefront businesses in the city as lake levels continue to drop, things could be worse -- much worse, water district officials said last week.

Without the more than 3 billion gallons of supplementary water the district has been pumping into Lake Elsinore over the last two years, the lake level would be 3 feet lower, Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District spokesman Greg Morrison said on a recent afternoon.

The water district began pumping recycled water into the lake in June 2002, and in March released the first gallons of water from three refurbished wells by the lake.

"If we get some help from Mother Nature, this recycled and well water will have an even greater impact," Morrison said.

Lake officials consider 1,240 feet above sea level to be the ideal level for the lake, which as of July 6 stood at 1,235.56 feet above sea level.

The lake loses fully one-third of its total volume to evaporation each year. That amounts to about 15,000 acre-feet of water. If that were drinking water, it would be enough to supply the needs of 30,000 families of four for one year.

Feeding a thirsty lake

To slow the water loss, the water district began an experimental program in June 2002 that is releasing recycled water into the lake. To date, more than 2.7 billion gallons of the heavily treated waste water have been pumped into the lake, some of it produced at the water district's own treatment facilities and some imported from one of its wholesale suppliers, Eastern Municipal Water District.

The city and the water district signed a historic water agreement in 2003, to share responsibility for putting supplemental water in the lake. Under the terms of the deal, each of them has committed to putting $650,000 a year into a trust account.

The money is being used to buy water and for other expenses related to supplying the lake with water. The fund also pays for operations and maintenance costs of shoreline wells, for example, and the costs of purchasing recycled water.

City and water district officials say they are hopeful that as the years pass and the region has a few good years of rainfall, the money will begin to accumulate in the account. Then, when the pot of dollars is big enough and there are dry spells, the money will be there if there's a need to buy extra water to stabilize the lake at the desired 1,240 feet above sea level.

Some residents have been highly critical of the recycled water program. They say that the high amounts of nutrients such as phosphorus contained in recycled water stand to increase the likelihood of the massive fish die-offs that have periodically plagued the lake through the decades. The lake has had excess nutrients for many years because most of its water comes from storm runoff. That runoff carries with it sediment rich in animal waste and fertilizers from farms in the 750-square-mile watershed that feeds into Lake Elsinore.

Fish in the lake compete with algae for oxygen. The algae feed on the nutrients -- the more nutrients, the greater the likelihood of algae blooms. That proliferation of algae deprives the lake of oxygen, leading to fish die-offs.

The water district is tracking those nutrient levels and looking out for significant increases. State officials say that should a major spike in nutrients occur, they would shut the tap on the recycled water going into the lake.

In addition to the recycled water, the water district also recently began pumping well water into Lake Elsinore. In March, the water district completed the refurbishment of three lakeside wells and since then, more than 367 million gallons from the wells have flowed into the lake.

The amount of recycled water and well water that has been added to the lake represents about two-thirds of the lake's annual losses to evaporation. So the lake level has continued to drop, albeit at a much slower pace than it would without the extra water.

For decades, the lake and the tourism-related businesses that it sustains have been held hostage to Mother Nature's alternating cycles of flood and drought.

In the 1960s, for example, the lake dried up almost completely. And in the 1980s, major flooding occurred in the city after heavy rains pounded the area over an extended period.

In the mid-1980s, a major flood control project by the state resulted in the construction of the levy at the south end of the lake, as well as the widening and deepening of its outlet channel. But the periodic drop of lake levels in times of drought continued.

Lake level's effects on businesses

Some lake-dependent business people say that anything the water district can do to replenish lake levels is welcome.

California Skier is a Lake Elsinore-based boat dealer. The retail business also sells boating equipment. Before the city closed the outlet channel near The Diamond baseball stadium last year because of low lake levels, the company sponsored several major sporting and promotional events there.

But with the channel closed, the company is losing major money, manager Mike Cardoni said recently. Before the closure, California Skier sold inlet channel-use permits to skiers and wake-boarders for the city and typically would earn about $20,000 a year in profits from that, Cardoni said. Also gone are the sporting events it sponsored there such as the Wakeboard World Championship, the International Novice Tour for water-skiers and other events, which brought in thousands of dollars to the community, Cardoni said.

"Thousands of people came here to spend money at hotels and restaurants," he said.

He said he realizes that it's a big challenge for the city and the water district to stabilize the lake level.

"At least they are hanging on by a thread, keeping the lake open," Cardoni said.

If the lake were three feet lower, the situation would be dire, he added.

"I don't think anybody could launch (their boats,)" he said. "They would have to walk their boats out."

But Cardoni suggested that even greater efforts have to be made for the lake and the city to truly prosper.

"Lake Elsinore is this city's biggest resource, and they just need to figure out how to make the lake the best it can be," he said.

The boat launching ramp at Weekend Paradise on the west side of the lake is high and dry because of the lake level, manager Carole Shackelford said.

"We are right back where we were last summer," she said.

While the city-owned boat launch at the Lake Elsinore Campgrounds and Recreation area on the north of the lake is still open, the city boat ramp at the east end of the lake is unusable because of the low lake level.

Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett, at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or wbennett@californian.com.