question about Clinton

[psilvers]

I was just looking at the fishing report in the KC Star and Clinton is 4 feet low while the other lakes around here are HIGH! Does anyone know why the water at Clinton is so low?

Thanks,
Pete

[springhillwantabe]

good clean livin everywhere but Lawrence they not getting the rain some areas got imo???

[Crappie Chatt]

Perry is only one I see over pool at COE site. <*)}}}><

[psilvers]

I am looking at the Outdoor Report in the KC Star, maybe not as good as the COE site. however, they say:

Perry - 1 foot high
Tuttle Creek - 5 feet high
Milford 2 feet high

That being said - Melvern is listed at being 2 feet low, but Clinton is 4 feet low.

Pete

[Crappie Chatt]

I am looking at the Outdoor Report in the KC Star, maybe not as good as the COE site. however, they say:

Perry - 1 foot high
Tuttle Creek - 5 feet high
Milford 2 feet high

That being said - Melvern is listed at being 2 feet low, but Clinton is 4 feet low.

Pete

It's that "Northof70" thing. Kinda like the "Tonganoxie Split". Keeping up with the weird year. <*)}}}><

[Captain Dan]

I contacted the C.O.E. about Clinton lake level and why are they still letting water out, which is making it difficult to get my pontoon out of my slip because of a cable just under the low water surface This is a copy of the e-mail I received back.


Dear Mr. Spielbusch: Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding the low lake elevation at Clinton Lake. Your are correct, the lake level is extremely low. In fact, we very briefly reached our all time record low lake elevation of 871.58 late last night before the rains today brought us back up to 871.7. Our previous record low occurred back in 1989 at 871.6. We are currently 3.8 feet below our multipurpose pool elevation of 875.5. The reason the lake is so low is because inflow into the lake has been extremely low since the summer of 2011. Inflow so far this year is only 22% of average. Inflow last year was only 19% of average. These figures equate to a 50-year drought condition. I have enclosed a graph showing inflow month by month for last year and this year compared to the average. This dramatically shows how bad it has been. There has been some rain this year but it has been mostly small rainfalls of one inch or less. These small rainfalls just soak into the soil and do not produce much runoff into the lake. There are three factors that make the water level go down each year. The largest factor is evaporation losses. So far this year, a total of 30,678 acre-feet of water has been withdrawn from the lake - 48 percent of this is evaporation losses. The rest of the withdrawals are from water supply for the city of Lawrence and the Rural Water Districts around the lake (23%) and the minimum streamflow water quality release we make through the outlet works (29%). I attached a pie chart to show this distribution of withdrawals. We are required to make the minimum streamflow water quality release to the Wakarusa River downstream of the dam. When planning for the dam was underway, the Corps of Engineers met with many partners and stakeholders to determine many aspects of the lake including the size of the lake, recreation development, water supply needs, and requirements for minimum streamflow releases. The State of Kansas, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Corps determined that for the quality of water in the Wakarusa River downstream of the dam, a minimum of 21 cfs should be released from 1 April - 30 Sept and 7 cfs from 1 Oct - 31 March. This is needed to preserve the fishery in the Wakarusa River. This cannot be varied without considerable study and coordination. We lowered the release to 7 cfs on 1 October. This small amount has a very small impact on the lake elevation. I am hopeful that the rainfalls we are getting this week will help bring the lake up some. We have already come up 0.1 of a foot today. If we get more rain it will produce better runoff with the saturated soils from today's rain. It will at least slow the decline of the lake level for a little while. I spoke to Megan Hiebert, Clinton Marina owner. She said the marina staff will do all they can to help you can access the lake during these times of low lake levels. Eventually we will emerge from this extreme drought cycle and we will get back to normal inflows into the lake. A couple of good 3 inch rains will refill the lake quickly. If you have any additional questions about the lake level or other aspects of Clinton Lake operations, please do not hesitate to call me at the number below. Steve Spaulding, our Hydrologic Engineer in Kansas City, also said he would be glad to talk to you about water management at the lake if you have further questions. His number is 816-389-3155. Sue Gehrt U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District

[Captain Dan]

They sent me other e-mails too that I won't bore you with.

[zeepo]

Let me asked everyone a question. Has the fishing been better, the same or worse with the low water conditions. For myself some of my honey holes are too shallow to fish so that has slowed down the fishing for me some. The only species that I have done way worse this year is the walleyes and my best year on the wipers.

Zeepo

[psilvers]

Thanks for the info Capt. Dan!

[center12]

Clinton is such a small watershed compared to the other reservoirs in the Kaw basin that the rainfall has to be right on the spot to get to the lake.

Zeepo, sorry can't really compare for you. When the water was up I was into bass tournaments, started back into crappie last year............thought the bass fishing stayed about the same during the drop, only you couldn't make it up the river from the lake. The river is the best largemouth fishing on the watershed, the main body smallmouth fishing has gotten pretty good.......hope they help maintain or increase they're population.