CANTON, Okla. — Water was diverted this week from Canton Lake to Hefner Lake, a reservoir that serves residents of Oklahoma City.
The launch of water on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022, from Canton Lake was the second this yr, with the primary launch happening Aug. 11. In each situations, 13,000 acre toes have been launched, with a complete of 26,000 cubic acre toes being launched. The two releases of water are the primary since 2013, when almost 30,000 cubic acre toes have been eliminated within the midst of adverse drought circumstances.
Don Underwood, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ pure useful resource supervisor for Canton Lake, has been on-site since 2015. He stated the 2013 water launch got here throughout a time when the drought had actually affected the shoreline of the lake, and the withdrawal at the moment made issues even more durable. He stated the water stage made the lake “an almost inactive pool,” or about as little as it may possibly get and nonetheless have water in it.
“It was difficult. Boat ramps were unusable. I mean, you could come and camp and that kind of thing, but any kind of water-based activity was just out of the picture, it just wasn’t there,” Underwood stated. “So we had to kind of limp through that and just reassure folks that just, ‘Mother Nature is going to let it rain again, we just don’t know when.’ And sure enough, we got some little rains starting in 2016, 2017. And we were able to achieve elevation again.”
Underwood stated in 2019, extra rain triggered a flooding scenario, and the water stage of Canton Lake has been a downward pattern since then. He stated the long-range forecasts make the scenario murky, as some say it will likely be sizzling and dry and others say sizzling with some rain. He stated that whereas the scenario is fluid, Canton Lake nonetheless will do no matter is required to present to folks no matter it may possibly, no matter circumstances.
“What we know is, we’ll be here and we’re going to be open to the extent that we can be open and provide services to folks and we won’t give up hope,” Underwood stated. “In the end, it all depends on raining, that’s what makes it good or bad.”
The launch of water this week raised Hefner Lake about 2 toes and lowered Canton Lake about the identical. Michelann Ooten, public information officer and advertising and marketing supervisor for the Oklahoma City Utilities Department, stated a gathering was held Oct. 13 with the Oklahoma City Utilities Department, Oklahoma Water Resources Board, Canton Lake Advisory Committee, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife and Conservation and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. At the assembly, the request for the water withdrawal was made, with the advantages of doing so offered to these gathered.
“When we do a release, the water is released by the Army Corps of Engineers, and the water is released down the North Canadian River and takes a few days to get here,” Ooten stated. “There’s a point where it is diverted to the Hefner canal, and then it makes its way to Lake Hefner via that canal. Lake Hefner serves part of our metro Oklahoma customer group. We serve about 1.4 million customers and provide water. Here in the metro area we have two water treatment plants … one at Hefner and one at Lake Stanley Draper.”
Ooten stated Lake Hefner is low due to ongoing heat temperatures and drought-like circumstances.
“The water that’s released from Canton ultimately makes its way to Lake Hefner and helps gain that water reservoir as a means of water that is then processed through our water treatment plant,” she stated.
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