PL water project open house set

PRIEST LAKE — The Idaho Water Resources Board is seeking public comment as engineers enter the second phase of the Priest Lake Water Management Project.

An open house will be held Sept. 27 at Priest Lake Elementary School. The public is welcome to drop by the school anytime between the hours of 4 and 7 p.m. to learn more about the project, as well as submit comments.

The board is committed to meaningful participation by all stakeholders as the project moves forward. Staff from Mott MacDonald, the consulting engineers designing the project, as well as representatives from the Idaho Department of Water Resources and Bonner County, will be on hand at the open house to provide information and answer any questions the public may have.

Phase 2 of the Priest Lake Water Management Project will involve data collection, preliminary engineering design, regulatory permitting, and public stakeholder involvement related to three core improvements planned for Priest Lake resulting from Phase 1 of the project.

The first phase of the project involved a study completed in February 2018. Results of the study included the following recommendations:

- Temporarily raising the surface level of Priest Lake three to six inches during the recreational season of dry years and integrating real-time streamflow data to allow more operational flexibility.

- Outlet Bay Dam structure improvements to the scour apron, modifying and strengthening gates, and electrical gate operation.

- Replace the current existing porous breakwater with an impervious sediment retention feature and dredging a portion of the Thorofare channel.

Phase 2 is a continuation of the work, conclusions, and recommendations outlined in the Phase 1 report.

The project was initiated after limited water supply and drought conditions in 2015 in North Idaho made maintaining the required summer lake level and downstream flow in the river very difficult.

A final design concept has not been selected. Construction of the improvements is planned in 2020. For project information, visit idwr.idaho.gov/IWRB/projects/priest-lake.