Water level on Beaver

[Blll]

OK. I get it. Beaver is the 1st lake in the flood defense system. But are we going to stay 8'-10' high till summer? A drive around the lake shows a huge number of docks (like mine) are

inaccessible because of the water level and the rt 12 bridge is hard to get under for plenty of boats. I read on the TR site that they have dropped over 9' from the early January high. It looks like Beaver has come down about 3'. Would 1125 pool level be too much to hope for? Would not some drawdown current clean up the water?

Sorry, just venting. Yesterday should have been a fishing day.  

[Stump bumper]

Seems to me the more they pull the dirtier it gets, the lake needs to sit still to clear, also there has to be a river to take the run off all even the Mississippi is flooding due to warmer than usual weather in the North. Nice thing is should be not spring melt off and they should be able to move the spring rains.

[Blll]

Stump, you are probably right about the current making the mud worse with the water up where it is. I'm just bummed being stuck onshore.

[showmebass]

It's crazy to look at the lake level charts and see that Beaver is currently about 19 feet higher that it was 2 years ago at this time. 

[Guest]

I think the COE plans on opening up the gates at BSL next week. That would relieve enough pressure to allow beaver to fall back into an acceptable level.  

That's my guess anyway. 

[Quillback]

Bill the Corps must have heard you, this was put on their Facebook page about an hour ago.

Beaver Lake Update: Daily hydropower releases are dependent on how much water is flowing into the lake. Releases are scheduled at a rate which will hold the lake near or just below elevation 1129 feet. Lake levels may fluctuate by a few tenths.

Beaver Lake is first in the 3-lake chain (Beaver, Table Rock, and Bull Shoals). If we release floodwater stored in Beaver into Table Rock and Bull Shoals while they are already storing floodwater, we use up more storage capacity in tho...se two lakes. If additional rain falls in the Table Rock and Bull Shoals drainage basins, they will fill even more, while Beaver Lake's flood pool sits empty and unable to help. Once the water leaves Beaver Lake, we cannot put it back. On the other hand, if more rain falls in the Beaver drainage basin and fills its storage capacity, we can simply move some of the floodwater into Table Rock and Bull Shoals at that time. It is in accordance with the water control plan, which has been carefully thought out and reviewed multiple times over the years. To do otherwise would increase flood risks all along the White River downstream of Beaver Dam.

It is a matter of balancing flood storage among the lakes in this interconnected system to best prepare for a variety of scenarios if more rain falls. This is a key part of the water control plan. It helps to understand that Bull Shoals Lake has more than twice the flood storage capacity of Beaver and Table Rock combined. The flood pool at Bull Shoals is 41 feet deep. By comparison, the flood pool at Table Rock is only 16 feet deep, and the lake is much smaller. Let's say we've had heavy rain and Bull Shoals is 15 ft high. It still has more than two-thirds of its flood storage capacity available to capture more rain runoff. When Table Rock Lake is 15 feet high, it is 99 percent full and a fairly small rain event could cause it to spill and flood homes and businesses downstream. So we have to start bringing Table Rock Lake down first.

[sfiser]

TrophyFishR is correct.  They are going to draw Bull Shoals down w/ flood gates "for an extended period of time" as the corps said.  Once Bull and Table Rock get down to an acceptable level they will dump Beaver in and let its water flow through the system.  I bet in about a month they will start pulling on Beaver (barring any large rain event).  They know spring rains are coming and are planning for them, thus the flood gate releases at Bull and Norfork starting this weekend.  The corp is a lot smarter than we give them credit for.

The corps is in a tough spot because if the leave Table Rock and Bull Shoals at the levels they are at and we have another rain, we are in a catastrophic situation.  As long as those 2 lakes have flood storage capacity they can dump Beaver into them if we get a huge rain and those 2 larger lakes can hold Beavers excess water.  If Table Rock and Bull are both almost full and we get another rain, man that would be 2011 all over again.

[Blll]

Wow. Holding at 1129. I wondered why it was not going down much if at all.  I guess for the greater good. Well ok, I reckon I'll get on that "honey-do" list. (along with some football)

[Stump bumper]

It's just not our chain, there are lakes in OK they didn't see baot launches all summer and they are right back up to flooding bridges and roads. In ND I heard there was too much ground water to plant corn this year. Seems normal to have too much water or too little water for farming but it seems weird to have too much water to fish! 

[Guest]

Reading between the lines, beaver will be in flood pool all winter, spring & summer