Record of Meeting of
WCA’s Lake levels Cmte. & MIT & Mb Conservation
Present: Al Bezak (Dir.- Falcon Lake); Alan Roberts (Dir. – West Hawk); Tom Cutts (Dir. Betula Lake); Michele Manaigre-Sims (Otter Falls); Jack Wiebe (Falcon Lake); Ken Sommer (Eleanor Lake)
Will Kellas – MIT; Ben Vanderhooft – MIT; Brad Kiedyk – Mb. Conservation
Regrets: D. Kinley, G. Fissette, J. Kettner, G. Kennedy, Lindsay Donnelly, Doug Moberg, Neil McMillan (Dir. – Jessica Lake); Fisaha Unduche - MIT
Date:April 20, 2016
Subject:Operations review of the Winter 2015 /16 program; and priorities for 2016.
Current Status:
As of this date, the snow melt is complete with very little runoff. The winter draw down effort was defeated by the heavy November 2015 rains, and all lake water levels are near maximum summer levels. The ice is expected to disappear at Falcon within the next week. The lesson learned is that the draw down must begin earlier in the season (no later than the beginning of October, and be complete by mid-November.
Because initiating the draw down in October may catch some cottagers unprepared, we agreed to include a SCHEDULEon the WCA website – possibly in the “Lake Levels” section to give prior warning of the onset of the Drawdown
A discussion of the lake level targets on a lake by lake basis, resulted in a decision not to amend them further from the levels agreed to during our meeting of September 28, 2015.
Falcon Lake:
Falcon lake level remained above 1066.0 ft. until April 1st, when it started to rise with spring runoff.
A discussion of the need for dredging of boathouse access channels serving Blocks #10 and 12 /23, revealed the following:
-Jack Wiebe was of the opinion that the silt accumulation in these channels was in the order of 1 to 2 ft. in depth;
-The consensus that dredging of at least 12” was needed to reduce the minimum target level by 6”;
-WCA has prepared a Survey for distribution to the boathouse owners to determine their interest in a dredging program; their recognition of the need for it, and the extent of their willingness to participate in it. Further, that we expected to distribute it with the assistance of Conservation, within the next week or two.
Regarding the Preliminary Design Study for a new level control structure Ben V. advised that they were still trying to determine the design parameters of acceptable lake levels, downstream water levels / Falcon River Capacity; and the hydrology / accrual rates that the new facility would have to be able to accommodate. He expected that they would not be able to assess design options until autumn 2016. He was advised that in years when the relief between the lake and the Falcon River limited the discharge head available to 0 to 6” that the width of a conventional control structure would need to be in the order of 100 ft. to achieve a discharge rate close to the 100 cfs needed to relieve a 3” rainfall within a reasonable period of time. He was again encouraged to examine a pumped discharge system rather than a gravity driven level control facility as being the only reliable means of overcoming the capacity limitations of the Falcon River. Ben was reminded that measures to mitigate the erosion problem that has compromised the existing stop log structure would be very similar for both level control options.
Ben advised that construction of a new level control facility was scheduled for the 2017 /18 summer period.
Star Lake:
The water level had risen to 1.5 ft. above summer level with the spring runoff occurring before the Ice went out. Major ice damage to docks and boathouses is expected to occur.
Brad Kiedyk advised that Highways was scheduled to move a repair crew in to remove the culvert blockage within the next day or two. Apparently, the screen had been removed and not replaced in front of the culvert intake, allowing the beaver to block the discharge. Ongoing monitoring and maintenance of the screen and culvert intake will be carried out to reduce the probability of this happening again. The beaver are vigilant opportunists requiring constant monitoring, but Parks will do their best to prevent further problems.
West Hawk Lake:
It was noted that the West Hawk lake level at 1092.2 ft. before the ice goes out, is abnormally high for this time of year. Stop logs are still set at 1091.0 ft. and 1090.5 ft. respectively, retarding drawdown so as not to exacerbate problems on Caddy Lake which is at1046 ft.. Discussion with Will Kellas resulted in the decision to remove one log pending a further drop in Caddy, when another log should be removed toreturn West Hawk to within its maximum summer level.
Caddy Lake:
It was noted again that no response had been received from MIT to our request of May, 2015 to examine the potential to install a shallow V-notch weir on top of the existing discharge weir from North Cross Lake to retain a greater quantity of water in Caddy through the summer. It was resolved that MIT should again be asked to complete the analysis for such an upgrade to the existing facility. This should be recognized as the precursor for a similar request at Betula Lake. Will Kellas requested that this request be put in writing to Fisaha once again.
Betula Lake:
The request was made once again to install a V-notch weir on the discharge of Betula Lake to retard the rate of draw down and retain a higher level in the lake for a longer period of time.
Next Meeting:
Our next meeting with MIT and Parks will be scheduled for late September, or early October 2016.
General Comments:
The second year of a Team effort to manage the water levels in the Whiteshell has identified additional weak points in the protocol used to manage water levels. Having been identified, every effort is being made to improve the approach taken. The open communication channels for the cottagers to influence the decision making process, continues to foster a spirit of cooperation amongst all those involved. The main issue now is to accelerate the rate of response to the most sorely needed infrastructure deficiencies leading to the control of the water level on Falcon Lake.
Record by:Alan Roberts – WCA
Chair – Lake Levels Subcommittee