where is our lake going?

[sully]

can someone explain to me who is controlling the depth of our lake? it seems to me that it is currently lower than it's been in years. this is clearly the cause of major ice damage. is anyone paying attention to this? it doesn't seem so to me!!!

[Rocky]

You are right, it appears that Jim Gallagher and his associaites who control the Lakeport dam have over reacted. They obviously were concerned because the lake was higher than normal in Sept/Oct that there could be flooding this Spring.

Now, we will probably be faced with poor boating conditions unless there is a lot of rain this Spring. What is hard to understand is that they know the Spring run off from the mountains will be greatly reduced this year due to the lack of snow.

[GWC...]

*Note: 2004 = black line

Look here:
http://www.bizer.com/bztnews.htm#lakelevel

Also, see link below image:




http://www.des.state.nh.us/dam/graph/graph.htm
http://www.bizer.com/lakelog.gif

[Nav Man]

Silly Sully,
You are the same type of people that complain when the lake is to high! The Dam man and the People from Concord are not Magicians you know??? Nor can they forecast what the winter will bring! Do you people think they just push a button and the the lake will adjust overnight???? If they didn't bring the lake down a bit in the fall and we got 80 ft of snow you'd be saying how come the lake is to high didnt they know it was going to snow??? The fact of the matter is they do the best they can with the information they have from historical data and years of experience etc... Yes there are years when its a little high or a little low, but its a huge balancing act as to not either flood out the people south of lake winni or starve them either. I think you should stick with your own profession and not degrade people and things you have absolutely no clue about. How silly of you sully to think no ones paying attention to the lake levels. Enough said!!

[Chris Exley]

It seems to me we had this discussion last year, and then were pleaseently suprised at how well everything worked out. Just be patient. We are well within the long term averages for the lake.

[JackL]

Try this URL:
http://www.des.state.nh.us/dam/graph/graph.htm

[Kona]

Very interesting charts. As someone previously posted, we are below average levels and there has been little rain. Good to see that they have cut back on the discharge.

[-]

Why is it we can't come up with a more up to date way of controlling the lake level. Perhaps a sensor strategicly placed somewhere (TBD) that would sense water level, rain ammounts, snow accumulations etc. that would then determine when and how much to open or close the dam automatically without a human in the loop. Seems pretty rudimentary to me!!
Inquiring minds would like to know???

[Cal.]

GREAT idea, BUT those sensors can't tell at this point that the month of July is going to be hot and totally rain free ( as in drought condition). This would make planning ahead impossible. Because on the other hand you could also have 15" of rain in July. Weather people have a hard enough time forcasting for tomorrow and they have all the "up to date" technology available.
The only other option would be a fixed height dam that the water spills over. No way would they do that.

[diver down]

Jack what happens when your sensor fails??? If theres no humans going to monitor it when would you know it failed????when the lake is empty??

[Mee'n'Mac]

"Why is it we can't come up with a more up to date way of controlling the lake level. Perhaps a sensor strategicly placed somewhere (TBD) that would sense water level, rain ammounts, snow accumulations etc. that would then determine when and how much to open or close the dam automatically without a human in the loop. Seems pretty rudimentary to me!! "

This could be done but you'd still be missing the ability of the human-in-the-loop to gather predictions of what's likely to happen in the future and react prior to (for an example) the rain falling. The dam is a small spigot on a big lake and takes time to have a noticeable effect. I don't think it's peak outflow can match the lake's peak inflow. To prevent spring flooding you need to open the gates earlier and wider than you would for a summer rain storm, knowing it's likely to rain more next week in the spring. Could you make an "expert system" and program a computer with "forecasting knowledge" in addition to the measurements (and more) you mention to control the dam ? I'm sure it could be done but I doubt it would be any better (or even as good) as what we have now. Not to mention the $$ it would take ...

[RLC]

With all the cheap technology out there and the engineering know how I am not convinced that what he proposes can't be done.

[Rose]

One sensor won't do it. You'll need a network of sensors to make sure you're not flooding areas downstream. Each sensor you add makes it more difficult.

[Nav Man]

why dont we just leave it to the people who are doing it now????

[Treeerider]

Every year this lake level topic comes up....I have never seen the lake drained yet?? Nature will take care of the level, worry about something else like the possibility of John Kerry getting elected, now THATS something to worry about!!!

[Merrymeeting]

Agreed, I think the track record of those doing it now is pretty darn good given what Mother Nature throws at them each year.

Who would have thought in early December that we'd be worried about not enough water now. They were letting it out as fast as it would go out. Yet with all the rain and snow, the level still wasn't dropping.

Who would have predicted at that point that we wouldn't have any appreciable snow for Spring refill from that point on? If they hadn't let it out, everyone would have been worried and complaining about potential flooding come Spring.

It will be fine, give it time.

[Upthesaukee]

Now there's a whole new direction to a thread!!!

And I thought you got so excited by the thought that you inadvertently added a third "e" to treerider, but then noticed prior posts were all "treeerider". So much for being observant! ">

[Treeerider]

Actually I used to post under Treerider but for some reason the board rejects submissions so I added the "e"...

[Ann On Um Us]

Someone named "Treerider" created a user profile on the forum and password protected the name.

The profile (I check them out from time to time) says:

"Treerider hails from N. Mass, rides his Polaris RXL from Winter Harbor on Winnipesaukee with the "Nightrider","Loafrider", and "Flameknee" aka "GR" when not ice fishing from the gray bobhouse!
Also hit the lake hard in the spring for Salmon! "

If that is you then you forgot you registered and what your PW is. If that's not you then there is a duplicate name.
What do you think?

As for where our Lake is going, I heard that Fat Lazy Less was piling up ice to store under insulated tarps (it's a big mountain of ice already). He's going to be selling ice blocks this summer.

Ann




Treerider profile (http://www.winnipesaukeeforum.com/index.cgi?noframes;profile=treerider)

[Treeerider]

Treerider=Treeerider and I did have a password...but at some point it stopped working, thus the extra E...
Help Don.....
I'll Email you! FC