The water level should rise to the normal drawdown height of between 60” and 72” below the spillway (or full level) over the next couple of weeks. It should remain at that height until March 25th, when we will begin bringing the lake up to “full”.
As we told you in December, we needed the water level down about seven feet to evaluate the leakage through the dam. Due to all of the excess rain, it took far longer to get the lake down to that level than anticipated.
While the water was down, we also did an inspection of the gatehouse, including the plates and tracks that the plates fit into. Several plates needed the guides rewelded and this was done as well. The concrete pit floor (where water dumps when it flows over the plates) had some scouring (erosion) which will need to be addressed at some point in the future.
With the water level so low, the leak had nearly stopped. We will continue to monitor the leak as the lake fills up; this will give us additional data regarding possible fixes.
For any questions, please email us at cpwl@cpwl.org