LAKE ARBUTUS RE-FILL SOON
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 -- 12:49 PM
With July here, a popular area summer hot spot should begin looking like its old self.North American Hydro reports the Hatfield Spillway project is close to completion and the lake could begin refilling as soon as the week of July 14.
The lake has been drawn down 7-feet since the fall of 2005 as improvements were made to the dam.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will inspect the spillway next week, if that goes well, the gradual re-filling of Lake Arbutus could start the following week, according to Scott Klabunde, Midwest Plant Manager for NAH.
This spring's wet weather delayed work on the dam.
"We had heavy run-off and then additional precipitation," Klabunde notes, "We were passing water over the dam. We wanted to get going April 1, but because of the heavy run-off and precipitation, we actually lost about 30 days."
While the lake should begin refilling as soon as July 14, it won't happen overnight. Dam operators can't simply close the gates and choke off the river downstream.
"We can't just use all the available inflow for the lake," Klabunde explains, "If it's relatively dry, it may take longer."
While it's impossible to predict, if the flows are similar to recent years, it should take at least 4 weeks to return Lake Arbutus to it's traditional level.
North American Hydro representatives will be addressing the public at the next Lake Arbutus Lake Association meeting scheduled for Saturday, July 26.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.