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Spring rains expected to bring lake levels up

06:58 AM CST on Monday, February 23, 2009

By Bj Lewis / Staff Writer

Lake levels, while lower than this time last year, are not worrying officials at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local water supply districts, who expect levels to increase in the spring.

DRC/Barron Ludlum
DRC/Barron Ludlum
Ray Roberts Lake, shown earlier this month, is less than 3 feet shy of being full.

“We’re at 517.80 [feet] right now. Our normal conservation pool elevation is 522, so we’re really not down too far,” said Justin Berndt with the corps at Lewisville Lake. “Hopefully with the rainy season coming up, it will increase.”

The conservation pool elevation is the level at which the lake is full without flooding.

Ray Roberts Lake was at 629.64 feet Sunday, according to numbers released by the Fort Worth District of the Corps of Engineers. The conservation pool elevation of the lake is 632.5 feet.

Lake levels have not caused any boat ramp closures, Berndt said, but it is inching closer to a point where the corps may begin to look at that option.

“Spring seems to be when most of the rain comes anyway. Even though we’re down right now, hopefully we’ll get some good heavy rain to fill the basin back up,” he said.

According to the Upper Trinity Regional Water District’s latest numbers, Ray Roberts Lake is 90 percent full and Lewisville Lake is 78 percent full.

“That’s not bad,” said Tom Taylor, executive director of the water district. “Ideally, you would have all full as you enter the big season, but we don’t get a choice — we take what is delivered to us.”

Water suppliers have planned to anticipate lower levels, he said.

“It is our standard to plan for a seven-year drought. Since the lakes filled up a year or so ago, we’re no more than two years into a drought,” he said. “We should be in sound shape, and we believe we are.”

BJ LEWIS can be reached at 940-566-6875. His e-mail address is blewis@dentonrc.com .

 

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