lake level

[LIforrelaxin]

Originally Posted by chachee52

I think that it's funny how everyone is blaming the water management.

DES is the easy target, and people need someone to target for their misfortune.
At the end of the day, mother nature is unpredictable. There is a protocol in place for controlling the lake level, it gets followed within reason every year. Many times it works out just fine, but you have exceptions. After 40 years going to the lake, the exceptions are a small percentage of those years.

The problem really comes down to how well you are prepared and equiped to handle the exceptions. As dock structures have become more permanent and less adjustable it isn't easy to re-adjust when water levels go outside the norm. This is why I favor removable docks. and why I have always kept an extra dock section, so when the water is low, I can go out another few feet. When the water is high well that is a little harder to deal with.... However with the right set up you can always raise your dock.

Many lakes have a much wider operating band and people have to no choice but to move away from fixed docks.... that is the issue that plagues Winnipesaukee, because its operating band is controlled so narrowly, everyone avoids the additional cost of a more adjustable docking solution.

[garysanfran]

Originally Posted by chachee52

I think that it's funny how everyone is blaming the water management. I remember this same criticism last spring that "it was too high for my dock and boat" then when it was back to "normal" and we didn't get any rain all summer, the same people were "the dam got mismanaged and now the water is too low". It's not an exact science.
Way back in the day, there was no damn and the lake level was high and then it was low. Who did people complain abut then?
It is what it is, they are doing the best that they can.
I have a bumper sticker that someone gave me from England and I have it on my wall at work: Keep Calm and Carry On

For the prior 65 years I've been coming here, no problem. Then, three years in a row? The low water last year was an anomaly, but the rain in the spring was forecasted as it has been for decades. So when something, for over 60 years all of a sudden changes what was the change that made that happen? The management of the Lakeport Dam. I was told the operation was sold to a Canadian concern.

[John Mercier]

It is managed by the State.

[BillTex]

Back on the coast we call this phenomena “tidal change”. Happens 2x/day.

[Biggd]

Draining the lake seems to be a lot harder than draining your wallet these days!

[TiltonBB]

Using my unofficial, non-scientific, possibly inaccurate measurement it appears the lake has dropped about 5 inches from the highest spring level.

I went through the Weirs Channel yesterday and I was surprised to see the indicator on the bridge showing right at the "full lake" level. I have been told in the past that that sign is not accurate. The current is still running pretty hard through the Channel.

At the house, the lake level still seems 3 or 4 inches higher than normal. However, it is a big improvement over the past two weeks.

[fatlazyless]

Looking closely at the BearCam, their dock with the three large blue trash cans full of water is no longer underwater. About a week ago, the dock looked underwater by an inch or two or something.

[jeffk]

The DES measures the lake at about 2.75 above full pool this morning so your measurement at your house syncs to the "official" measurement pretty well.

The current is running hard through the Weirs channel because the dam is almost at max output 1850 CFS of 2000 CFS. At 2000 CFS the lake is drained about 1 inch per day and ALL of that has to flow through the channel.

Just for math geeky fun -
Lake Winnipesaukee covers approximately 46080 acres
X
43560 sq feet per acre
= 2,007,244,800 sq ft total
divided by 12 for the 1" drop per day at max dam output
=
167,270,400 Cubic feet of water
x
7.5 gallons per cubic foot
= 1,254,528,000 gallons of water flowing through the Weirs channel daily at maximum dam output of 2000 CFS.

For a cross check
2000 CFS dam output at maximum
x
86400 seconds per day
=172,800,000 CFDay
x
7.5 gal per CF
=1,296,000,000 gallons of water per day at max dam output of 2000 CFS, pretty close to the other calculation.

That's roughly the amount of water in 65 thousand 20,000 gallon swimming pools.

[John Mercier]

Originally Posted by Biggd

Draining the lake seems to be a lot harder than draining your wallet these days!

Going to get much worse.
Customers have even less patience than boaters.