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Corps To Lower Beaver Lake Level Over The Next Two Weeks


Phil Lilley

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http://www.lovelycitizen.com/story/1482955.html

EUREKA SPRINGS -- The high water level of Beaver Lake caused by repeated rains during the spring and summer will soon come to a close.

On Monday, Dec. 1, the Army Corps of Engineers began making releases through the hydropower turbines to bring the reservoir down almost six feet to the top of the conservation pool.

"We won't be opening the floodgates like we did in the spring," said P. J. Spaul, Public Affairs Officer for the Corps of Engineers Public Affairs Office in Little Rock. "We'll use the turbines to release the water."

Last in line

Spaul said the process has taken so long because five other dams downstream on the 722-mile-lone White River had to lower their own impoundments enough to make room for water from Beaver Lake.

"We'll lower the lake to 1,120.4 feet, what most people consider 'normal,' although Beaver is a man-made lake and meant to fluctuate," Spaul said. "1,120.4 is the level we try to maintain except for extremely wet or dry weather."

The Corps is advising boat dock owners to keep an eye on their docks during the first two weeks in December and move them as needed to prevent them from grounding as the lake recedes.

Starkey Marina

"For us, for most of the concessionaires, this will be a pretty much everyday thing," said Linda Lemon, co-owner of Starkey Marina. "It's the private dock owners, the ones who aren't permanent residents and don't have anyone to look after their docks, who may be left high and dry. For us, it will mean checking the docks daily, or maybe twice a day, instead of once a week."

Phased drawdown

Releases will continue 18 hours a day. If additional heavy rains fall in the interim, the process could be extended over a longer period of time.

On or about Wednesday, Dec. 10, the releases will be cut back to 12 hours a day, and the lake level will continue going down at a slower rate until about Dec. 13, when the conservation pool elevation of 1,120.4 ft. is expected to be reached.

Daily lake information can be obtained on the Internet by going to www.swl.usace.army.mil and clicking the "Water Management" button.

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