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Updated
November 26, 2006

 

Daily Gazette

Sacandaga days away from spilling over

Critics: Lake being used too aggressively for storage

BY JOE MAHER

Hudson River Black River Regulating District officials are advising the public that the Great Sacandaga Lake is going to crest over the spillway at the Conklingville Dam in the coming days.

The man-made flood-control reservoir was only inches from overflowing the spillway as of Friday afternoon.

The lake is considered full at 768 feet above sea level and the spillway elevation is 771 feet above sea level, giving regulators some extra emergency storage capacity.

The lake's surface elevation as of 1:30 p.m. Friday was 770.71 feet above sea level.

The district's chief engineer, Robert Foltan, said that heavy rain that fell over the Great Sacandaga Lake watershed Thursday is expected to increase the elevation of the lake approximately 1.4 feet by Wednesday.

Critics of the district have said the "aggressive use of storage" policy contained in the Conklingville Dam's federal relicensing agreement, called the "offer of settlement," has resulted in high water levels, shoreline erosion problems and property damage.

But Foltan said the district is simply following the rules of the settlement agreement.

"Since the heavy rains of July the Hudson River Black River Regulating District has maximized the releases of water from the Great Sacandaga Lake in accordance with the offer of settlement," Foltan said Friday.

Critics such as Peter VanAvery of the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee, though, have said that a flood-control reservoir without any excess storage capacity is useless as a flood-control tool.

The district, he contends, could release more water than it has, and is aggressively storing it to maximize hydro-electric power generation at the expense of the Hudson River Valley communities it is supposed to protect from flooding.

Reach Gazette reporter Joe Maher at 725-8412 or jmaher@dailygazette.net.

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