When will they draw down GRL to Winter Pool

any ideas ???

A few years ago somebody found a muscle that was on the endangered species list. The colony is located somewhere between the tail waters and before Barren and Nolin feed into the river. Since finding the almost extinct muscle the corp of engineers have been working with the Nature Conservatory Project. They wait for approval from them as to when to discharge water. If flood conditions exist they release water. If under normal conditions they wait until the water temperature is at a certain point then they release water. From what I was told the young/newly hatched muscles will have a higher mortality rate if the water is above a certain temperature.

For the last 4-5 years it has been anywhere from early to late November when the draw down has started. I found out the information a couple of years ago when I was at the office at the dam buying a parking permit. I asked why the drawdown did not start on Oct. 15 like it has been for many years. That is when I was told the information about the rare muscle and how it affects the drawdown. This is also the same reason they no longer draw the lake down 11ft. They now only draw it down 7ft. A call to the office at the dam may give you an idea as to when it will start.

Anyone ??

Not drawing the lake down as far is really causing the creeks to silt in. They need to really jerk it down one year and let the spring rains wash them back out

Well it is the middle of November and still no draw down....Anyone know yet when this will happen

[QUOTE=NedFlanders;502368]Well it is the middle of November and still no draw down....Anyone know yet when this will happen[/QUOTE]

I copied the below from an update the Corps of Engineers posted yesterday:(11/15/12)

[h=5]Lake Level Update: as of 8:35 am lake level is 674.98 msl with a gate setting of 20 tenths on the bypass valves. We anticipate opening up to 1 tenth on the main gates later today. The draw down for winter pool is beginning. Surface water temperature is 55 degrees F.[/h]
I had a pretty slow day there Sunday, just two fish bass and a musky hook up. Luckily one of them was the largest smallmouth I have caught :)

I guess it is a mystery this year ?

They drew it down for a few days last week and then turned it off. Maybe someone seen a mussel somewhere and they didn't want to hurt it.

still no movement ...

[QUOTE=NedFlanders;503333]still no movement ...[/QUOTE]

Copy and paste from today

Lake Level Update: as of 4:44 pm lake level is 673.52 msl with a gate setting of 6 tenths on the main gates.

We will no longer be delaying our winter drawdown. We will be gradually opening up the main gates to 22 tenths tomorrow. We hope to reach winter pool sometime this week; so fisherman beware, fishing at the stilling basin will not be good for the next week or so!

[url]http://www.lrl.usace.army.mil/wc/reports/grbdlb.txt[/url]

According to the corp of engineers web site for 12/3/12 GRL was 673.55 and the level was stable. The main gate was set on 0.0 and the by pass was set on .40 with a discharge of 48 cfs. The inflow was 71 cfs hence no change in the water level. The next 24 hour main gate setting is listed as no change. (48 cfs and 71 cfs is barely any water at all) If my memory is correct the max outflow is a main gate setting of 1.7 which results in a discharge of about 8000 cfs. On the inflow side of things the May 2011 flood inflow was around 48,000 cfs...which is why I say 48 cfs and 71 cfs is barley anything.


...now just because it is listed that way on their web page does not make it true. I have personally seen different things going on with the tail waters than what they have listed. I have seen them skip days with no report and also be 1-2 days behind reporting things. Hence the reason I only use their web site as a reference.

I was just wondering where you got your information about the main gate setting being .60 on 12/3 and then going to .22 on 12/4 If that is true .22 will be less water going through the main gate not more. They can lower the lake 1.5-1.7 ft per day if there is little to no inflow. They normally lower the lake around .6-.9 ft per. The way they are doing it this fall is different from any year that I have ever seen so who knows when they will lower the lake. I keep telling my self that they will lower it any day...sooner or latter I will be right LOL.

I also noticed they have Barren,Nolin and Rough shut off. Must be something going on down stream of the upper Green River tail waters.

That is a copy and paste from their facebook post. Green River Lake- US Army Corps

It's funny a lot of places update facebook more than their websites because it's so easy anyone can do it. Odd for the corps though.

It doesnt really make sense to me now that you pointed out the math