Posted on: November 1, 2019 | Water Levels
Manitoba Infrastructure and the Parks Branch have provided answers to some of our recent questions about water levels.
What has happened with the control structure at at West Hawk?
Two logs have been pulled from the West Hawk dam and both West Hawk and Caddy Lake are receding. MI is continuing to monitor and evaluate any further log removal based on weather and possibility of freezing.
What is the plan for the dam and what does this mean to the lake levels?
The plan is to try to maximize the outflow out of both lakes while we can before Caddy freezes up. If you refer to the below plot you can see that the drawdown of West Hawk was clearly insufficient before the removal of logs on Oct. 25th and Oct. 28th.
West Hawk was receding by about 0.2 inches per day whereas Caddy was receding by over an inch per day. Since the operations, both lakes are dropping by about an inch per day.
Increasing the flow into Caddy from West Hawk doesn’t necessarily impede the drawdown all that much because when the lake is at a higher level there is more outflow through the tunnel on the downstream end. This is backed up by the below plot where you can see the positive net effect from the operation. There is no plan to insert logs back into the structure at this time because the orientation of the logs currently has them at an elevation of 1091.00 feet which is 9 inches above West Hawk’s winter target level (if we add logs before freeze-up this will further limit the maximum drawdown of West Hawk as the height of the logs is the minimum elevation the lakes can get down to over the winter).
We think we have found a nice common ground between lakes that can hopefully stand to let both Caddy and West Hawk drain consistently beneath the ice from November to March with the ultimate goal of having each lake arrive at a somewhat reasonable level before snowmelt in the spring.
What is happening with the control structure at Falcon Lake?
From an operation standpoint our hands are pretty tied as far as Falcon Lake goes. There is potentially one log that still needs to be removed but it has been deemed too unsafe to remove with the current outflow from the dam. MI and Parks are monitoring the situation closely and will ensure to remove the last log before the lake freezes up.
Can we install bubblers to protect structures from ice damage?
The notice that was sent out last year and is still in effect. Questions can be directed to Kathy Blanchard, Manager of Cottaging and Commercial Development.
Click the link to see the notice https://whiteshellcottagers.com/whiteshell_news/notice-for-cottagers-use-of-dock-bubblers-or-submersible-pumps/