The lake has dropped 1 ft. from it's high for this year, 5922.32 (July 8th) to 5921.32 (September 8th)
In exactly 2 months.
Why let this water out at all?
Way back in the early 1900's, when the power company was trying to get the rights to use Bear Lake as their storage facility and divert the Bear River into it, they were only able to get the approval by combining, irrigation, power generation and flood control.
Therefore, if flooding occurs downstream, the power company is held liable for damages if they have not made enough "space" in Bear Lake to hold a reasonable volume of the spring runoff.
"Catch 22"
Nobody has any idea of how much of a runoff we will have until we get deep into winter! So, why don't they just wait until late winter or spring to make the releases? Answer: There are physical limits to how fast they can evacuate the water out of the lake (it takes months) AND physical limits to the capacity to sections of the river at which it will FLOOD!
Isn't there a solution? For several year the Bear Lake Watch and the other Bear Lake Settlement partners have been investigating ways to improve this situation.
Finally...
There are talks underway for PacifiCorp to "re-manage" the river system in a manner that could help alleviate this problem and allow more water to be kept in the lake over the winter and for the long run. Hopefully, this can be resolved in time to save our water this year.
This would be good for the lake as the winter storms and ice provide its strongest power to clean and reclaim its lakebed. When the lake is high over the winter, these forces are applied at its original boundaries instead of hundreds of feet out into the lake.
Progress - we hope!
4544 HWY 89
Fish Haven, Idaho
David Cottle-208-530-0058
Claudia Cottle-801-243-8980
www.bearlakewatch.com
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