Turtle Lakes showing drops in elevation
Published Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Both Turtle Lakes are showing a slow but steady drop seven weeks into the work of the outlet installed in September.
Since September 11, South Turtle has dropped 3.5 inches, while North Turtle has been lowered 1.5 inches.
“It’s been going in the right direction,” Rick West, County highway engineer said. “We’ve moved as much as we can push through the system right now.”
The movement of high water from the turtle lakes south has had an effect downstream as surface elevation has risen on Fiske Lake. West has received a number of calls from South Turtle Lake residents expecting a faster drop.
“I think we’re flowing as much volume as we can,” he said. “It’s going to take some time; we need to outlet North Turtle as well.”
Part of the reason South Turtle may not be appearing to drop as fast is added water from North Turtle now moving through the lake. The need to be conscious of downstream needs has also caused the flow to slow. Full flow through the outlet has been slowed by the department inserting three stops to restrict some of the release from the outlet.
“We will maintain flow rate as long as we can,” West said. “The system is working but we do have some downstream concerns we said we would listen to and we have.”
County officials believe the lake should be at a manageable level by next summer after giving the outlet enough time to work.
Other outlets in the area are preparing for action as well. Work on the Crooked Lake outlet is scheduled to begin next week and be completed by the end of November. Early construction will be to install a pipe under County Highway 1 and the cleaning of Ditch No. 21.
“Delzer Construction has said the project should be done by the end of November if we have an average Fall,” West said.
A ditch hearing has been scheduled for 1 p.m., Nov. 26, in regards to County Drainage System No. 25 to be used as an outlet for Little McDonald, Kerbs and Paul Lakes. The meeting will be held at the Government Services Center.
Elevations: Sept. 11 Current
N. Turtle 1330.04 ft 1329.82 ft
S. Turtle 1321.55 ft 1321.28 ft
Fiske L. 1313.29 ft 1314.51 ft
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