guts...water levels

[muraider]

yo guts, with little snow fall this winter do you think h2o levels will be down for kab and nam this early june? thanks...

[guts]

Muraider, unless the unlikely happens, that would be rain or snow, the lake levels will be low. Kab is at the bottom of the rule curve which isn't bad, Rainy on the other hand is well below the rule curve, with their clout and political prowness, I suspect they will draw water to help themselves from our basin, keeping us low. It will take an awful large amount of precip to bail us out by opener, however I don't expect we will be high and dry like some years in the past.

The experimental water curve is working in our favor this year, as they didn't do the drastic draw down as in the years past, prior to the curve. With a little bit of luck most boat harbors will have water. guts

[muraider]

guts, thanks for the info. Being from missouri, Im not up to date on water curve. we are used to lake levels down here,can you explain about the water curve?

[guts]

There maybe a reader that may have a better explanation then me, but I'll try.

Kabetogama, which is part of the Namakan basin is similair to a resevoir, there are two dams on the Mn./Canada boder in the Kettle Falls area.

In the past the paper mills open and closed the dam/spillway to generate electricity for the mills, savings them 100's of thousands of dollars. There were seasons that they were greedy, drawing off too much water depending on Spring snow and rain to bring the water levels back up.

The water drawn off the Namakan Basin enters Rainy Lake flows on to Lake of the Woods and supports some mills in Canada. It was not uncommon over the fall and winter months for the Kab lake level to drop 8-10' and somtimes more. That being said, you can see if we didn't get lots of Spring runoff and rain, we would begin the Summer with docks sticking out of the water 8-10', some summers the water would remain low and never get back to normal

About 6-7 years ago, after much debate, rule curves regulating water levels, preventing such drastic draw downs in the future, went into effect. The IJC, representatives from both sides of the border, agreed to keep water levels more consistent in case of abnormal Winter and Spring runoffs, they regulate the draw down at the dams, they now should be adjusting the outflows to correlate with the present and predicted weather patters, as it relates to moisture.

Prior to the rule curve now in place, Kab could have been 3-4 feet lower than it is now, with this curve, if its adhered to, the Namakan basin will have a chance to reach more normal levels, instead of having to start out in the whole so far. Hope the explation helps, guts

[muraider]

thanks guts...I can't imagine 8-10 ft. low!!! Im glad those days are over. I always enjoy your post around opener and June 1...I'll contact you later in May.thanks again

[Black_Bay]

Take a look here muraider: http://lakes.bc.com/default.htm It has the history of the watershed and current lake levels plus lots more info.

[guts]

Black Bay, thanks for your input, thats a very interesting web site, guts

[turtleboy]

This link will give currant and historical levels for Kabetogama measured at Gold Portage, updated continuously.

Gold Portage water levels