Lake Hefner at record low water levels, when will city buy Canton water?

[PaddyShack]

This is basically what I said before. What you DO have control over, is what you buy. That's how you can exercise controls here. We, the consumers, created the problem and the best, so we also have a responsiblity in fixing this. So here is what you can do with just a few examples.

Almonds - Well, buy as few as possible. They are a high high high water user and are mostly grown in areas of California that only exist as farmland, because of irrigation. Almond milk....hello. This is a HUGE consumer water user that can easily be adjusted by buying alternatives that do not require so much water in their cycle.

Avacados - pay attention to where they are grown. Haas from Mexico may not be available year round, but they dont require the same irrigation, again that the items grown in CA do. This really stretches to other items that we buy year-round, but require an immense amount of effort to make them be available year round. It's not just water, but the whole carbon cycle.

We can't just tell California that they can't have water anymore. We'd run out of food. The area fed off the Colorado obviously is not going to be able to sustain the basin like it once could. If you want water, you're going to have to start paying for it to be desalinated and piped in. That means that you, the consumer, is also going to have the cost of that passed on to you. So again, you decide how that goes based on your spending. If you're ok with paying $3 more for a carton of Almond Milk, then great, problem solved. If not, then you as the consumer, have to help decide how you are going to help the problem. And just saying you're going to cut it off, is not going to help.

Sticky situation with Avocados... Do you continue to exacerbate the water issue in CA, or do you keep money flowing to the Avocado cartell in Mexico... Who knows what the better decision is... But if there is not a bigger digression from the original point of this thread is, then I don't know what is.

[Pete]

Press release:

*****************

City officials request water release from Canton Lake to meet Central Oklahoma drinking water needs
08/11/2022

Utilities officials with the City of Oklahoma City are working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to draw water from Lake Canton in northwest Oklahoma. The water is needed to help increase water levels at Lake Hefner, which serves as a primary drinking water source for the City of Oklahoma City. All total, Oklahoma City supplies about 1.4 million residents in Central Oklahoma with treated drinking water.

This summer’s excessive heat and dry weather have caused water levels at Lake Hefner to drop by about four feet, according to Utilities engineers. The release will lower Lake Canton about two feet and raise Hefner’s water level an equal amount. The drop in lake level is not expected to affect Canton wildlife or recreational activities.

The release will begin today. The water will be emptied into the North Canadian River before making its way to Lake Hefner. Local officials anticipate the water will begin arriving in Lake Hefner within about three days of its release.

“We don’t take this decision lightly, which is why we work to plan the release so we can minimize impacts as much as possible,” said Chris Browning, Utilities Director, and General Manager for the Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust.

Browning and other Utilities staff met with officials from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Canton Lake Advisory Committee to carefully plan the release.

This will mark the first time Oklahoma City has had to pull water from Lake Canton since 2013.

[rtz]

Seems like when they did it in 2013; dumped water into a dry riverbed and it never made it here. Lake is currently dropping one foot a week. They'd have better luck scheduling it with the rain next week.

I'd like to know when they built the dam; did they scrape the lake bottom down to bed rock?

At some point due to increased water usage as the city grows; they need to heavily look into and consider keeping the lake an extra foot or two or three more full then they do in the spring time. When it's really full currently; Stars and Stripes park is most affected but that can be remedied.

Also even dredge it down to bed rock. Arcadia is eventually going to silt in like Overholser did.

[catch22]

I believe the concern with dredging it is damaging the filtration/pump station as it is not designed to filter a massive influx of debris.

It could probably be done, but would be very expensive and/or disruptive to the city’s water supply to allow for settling.

[gjl]

Years ago one time they were releasing water from Canton I went to Hefner at the spot where the water enters the lake from the canal. There were quite a few people there bow and arrow fishing for carp. They were leaving with garbage cans full of carp.

[rtz]

I'd like to know if they can open the dam in such a way to flush out the silt and sediment that collects at the base of the dam. It would also be extremely interesting to know more about the construction details when they made that tunnel for the canal under the NW Expressway.

https://www.swt-wc.usace.army.mil/CANT.lakepage.html

[Snowman]

I'd like to know if they can open the dam in such a way to flush out the silt and sediment that collects at the base of the dam. It would also be extremely interesting to know more about the construction details when they made that tunnel for the canal under the NW Expressway.

https://www.swt-wc.usace.army.mil/CANT.lakepage.html

That they have a silting problem implies it is not.

[bombermwc]

Silt is a problem for any dam. The only way to "do" anything about it is to dredge it out, or hope that when you open the gates, that it throws enough of it out too, to clear some out.

[rtz]

If they ever want Overholser to hold more water; they could dredge it out really deep. Get Dolese in there. Maybe that dirt is good for something?

They could make Draper hold more water by keeping it more full then they do. Same with Arcadia. You all have seen Arcadia after a big rain and it's 10 or 15 higher then normal. It still has like 40 feet to go before it goes over the spillway.

Yesterday after the water meeting; they opened 2 of the gates at Canton a half foot each and a 200 something cubic feet per second flow. Today they opened those gates to a full foot each and now cfs in the 400 range.

The water hasn't made it to Watonga. Don't know how they thought it would get here in 3 days.

[Snowman]

If they ever want Overholser to hold more water; they could dredge it out really deep. Get Dolese in there. Maybe that dirt is good for something?

They could make Draper hold more water by keeping it more full then they do. Same with Arcadia. You all have seen Arcadia after a big rain and it's 10 or 15 higher then normal. It still has like 40 feet to go before it goes over the spillway.

Yesterday after the water meeting; they opened 2 of the gates at Canton a half foot each and a 200 something cubic feet per second flow. Today they opened those gates to a full foot each and now cfs in the 400 range.

The water hasn't made it to Watonga. Don't know how they thought it would get here in 3 days.

The city was in the process of starting some sort of evaluation of Overholser with Dolese if it would be economical remove the sand/whatever around the time I quit following the city meetings something like 2-4 years ago, so I am not sure what the results were.

[catch22]

How deep is the lake? Is there any possible way to isolate the water of areas that can be dredged? Like some kind of underwater curtain.

Way out of my depth on this subject. Surely OKC is not the only place in the world where this issue has crept up?

[rtz]

If we're talking about Overholser:

Average depth 6 ft (1.8 m)
Max. depth 13 ft (4.0 m)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Overholser

The river actually passes beside the lake and they have to close the dam so the water backs up and rises high enough to get over the concrete curb on the north end that seems like an attempt to keep the sediment out. Does anyone know around when that north curb was installed?

Dropped pin
https://goo.gl/maps/pEmaDjuxPs7T5APUA

[Snowman]

If we're talking about Overholser:

Average depth 6 ft (1.8 m)
Max. depth 13 ft (4.0 m)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Overholser

The river actually passes beside the lake and they have to close the dam so the water backs up and rises high enough to get over the concrete curb on the north end that seems like an attempt to keep the sediment out. Does anyone know around when that north curb was installed?

Dropped pin
https://goo.gl/maps/pEmaDjuxPs7T5APUA

It looks like it is in all the historic sat photos in Google Earth, so at least mid eighties. Given that I would not be shocked if it dates back to the original construction, it should have been easier to build before the lake was created.

[rtz]

Looks like the water has arrived at Watonga:

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...065&period=P7D

[Newbomb Turk]

My father fished off the curb in the early sixties. It has been there since I was a tot.

[Bill Robertson]

My father fished off the curb in the early sixties. It has been there since I was a tot.

Dad and I fished all over the river in the early 60s and I remember it being there. So I agree.

[rtz]

So it was originally going to be 10,500 acre feet released. Now 8,000. Gates open for 9 days then closed.

Unless the city is aggressive with the locks on 39th street; not much is going to get in Hefner.

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/427134...g-water-supply

[rtz]

The water just got to Calumet:

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...065&period=P7D

[Bits_Of_Real_Panther]

The water just got to Calumet:

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...065&period=P7D

When will it show up at Hefner, Thursday?

[rtz]

Waiting on it to get to El Reno, then Yukon.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...065&period=P7D

[Swake]

Why is OKC getting water from western Oklahoma where it's dry instead of eastern Oklahoma?

[David]

Why is OKC getting water from western Oklahoma where it's dry instead of eastern Oklahoma?

This may be a stupid answer but I am fairly sure it's because that's the direction the land slopes.

[ChrisHayes]

This may be a stupid answer but I am fairly sure it's because that's the direction the land slopes.

That's what it is. As you go west, you're gaining in elevation. The far western panhandle is borderline foothills of the Rockies

[rtz]

When will it show up at Hefner, Thursday?

Maybe if they increase the flow or the water path has more of an elevation drop. It's moving in slow motion right now. I'm sure the dry sandy banks are soaking it up.

[rtz]

Looks like maybe it just made it to El Reno. Seems the equipment is having an issue:

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...065&period=P7D