Lake level questions raise concerns

Normally, the Shawnodese would be pulling out of Sandpoint's City Beach for one of its cruises around Lake Pend Oreille.

This year, however, the boat will begin the season Saturday by leaving from Kramer Marina in East Hope, where the lake is deeper, Lake Pend Oreille Cruises officials said.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have modified flow at the Albeni Falls Dam near Oldtown after discovering one of the gates had rolling flaws and base metal defects on critical girders. The defect, found during a routine inspection, led to the Corps to restrict spillway operations "out of an abundance of caution and to mitigate risk." The decision means a later-than-normal filling of the lake, which typically starts in early to mid-April to reach the summer pool between Memorial Day to mid-June.

The delay is both troubling and potentially devastating to the region's economy, Ford Elsaesser, Lakes Commission chair, said Friday.

"We [want] to express our pressing and serious concerns regarding the refill of Lake Pend Oreille this spring, this summer, and in upcoming years," Elsaesser said in a press release. "The economy of our waterfront community rises and falls with the level of the lake and impacts every business and person."

The commission called on the community to share their concerns and hold those charged with protecting the region's people and economy to do just that.

They also called on state and federal officials to fulfill "the laws they promised to uphold when Albeni Falls Dam was built."

Elsaesser said the matter is a long-term situation with no clear end — or solution — in sight.

"As residents of this beautiful and remarkable place, we know from firsthand experience that maintaining high water quality and quantity in our lakes, rivers and streams is paramount to the overall health of Bonner County and Idaho," he said.

The Corps plans to hold two meetings next week where its district engineer will update the communities on the project and answer questions about the matter.

The first meeting will be held Thursday, May 30 from 6-8 p.m. at the Ponderay Events Center, 401 Bonner Mall Way, in Ponderay. The second will be held the following day at the Camas Center for Community Wellness, 1821 N. LeClerc Road, No. 5, Cusick, Wash.

The Corps' current plan is to start increasing the lake level to reach 2,057 feet by Memorial Day.

"That said, even with very low snowpack being recorded in the basin, there's still significant uncertainty in the inflow forecasts, both in terms of total volume and timing (how fast the snow melts), and we'll continue to monitor real-time weather, streamflow trends, and updating modeling predictions daily," USACE public affairs specialist Nicole Celestine said. "Once lakeshore flood risk passes, we'll operate to meet normal summer pool elevations as quickly as possible."

The discovery of the defects caused Corps officials to remove the spill gate May 14 and reduce the powerhouse flow to achieve the desired total water outflow for the lake’s predicted elevation. Celestine said that the removal was deemed a better option than moving multiple gates around to regulate lake levels.

Since the dam’s spillway gates were fabricated at the same time with the same steel type as the defective one — during the same year the dam was constructed in 1955 — the Corps is inspecting the remaining 10 gates to determine if similar defects exist.

Modified spillway operations will continue until further investigation and analysis is completed, said Corps public affairs specialist Scott Lawrence.

Lake Pend Oreille will remain at current elevations for the next week or two as refill options are evaluated. Lawrence said the lake refill is likely to be delayed due to spill gate movement restrictions and the need to maximize benefits from available storage.

“We understand the importance of Lake Pend Oreille to the community and lake users, but we must take these steps today to ensure we are operating in a safe and reliable manner,” Albeni Falls Dam operating project manager Amanda Smith said previously.