Corp Terminology

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On Corp of Engineer lake charts, does anyone know what these terms mean:

1. Storage Utilized

2. Seasonal Rule Curve

[MOPanfisher]

Storage Utilized is going to be expressed either in a % or acre feet. It simply relates the amount "full" the lake is in relation to capacity. Normally expressed as XYZ lake is currently at 75% of storage capacity or 45,00 acre/feet. Acre feet is simply one acre of surface (43,560 Sq feet) one foot deep.

Seasonal Rule Curve. While not have heard that specific term before I assume it refers to what would "Normally" be expected to be present i.e. 70% capacity, or x acre feet. Other possibility depending upon the lake is how much is normally released (not counting power generation) to the river, depends on lake level and time of year. If you want specifics I can get an actual definition pretty easily.

Example Table Rock Lake might currently be at 75% of its storage capacity and in a "normal" year it would be at 84%.

[Feathers and Fins]

how bout more realistic.

1. Generation at 3pm. = We blowin da horn at 2pm you best move your behind.

2. Flood Gates open. = we shoulda paid attention when da weather person said it was going to be flooding rains.

[MOPanfisher]

I emailed our water control section in Kansas City and this is what she sent me.

Storage Utilized: The amount of water in the lake that is above the multipurpose pool (mpp) elevation. If the pool is below the mpp, there is no storage. Sometimes we report this as a percent of possible storage and sometimes we report it as acre-feet of water (volume). Percent is probably easier to understand.

Seasonal Rule Curve: I'm sure there's a concise, well worded definition but I can't put my hands on it at the moment. Basically, we have target pool elevations for the lake base on seasons. For example, we tend to draw down lakes in the spring in anticipation of the spring rains; that allows for a slow rise to accommodate the fish spawn. Each lake's plan is a little different. The plan is a result of the efforts of Federal, State, and local share holders. We like to call them the Water Level Management Plan (WLMP). But Seasonal Rule Curve is the same thing.

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Thanks.