Wow, just looked at USGS for Hubbard it fell out of the 427's this morning. I wonder if the poor lease holders that bought leases and spec boat houses can re-purpose their mud front property into gardens and mother inlaw apartments. Unbelievable.

Drought don't you know. I am wondering how low does it have to get before no more boat ramps are useable ?
Answer please tin tub man

only 8.5' low? I wished ours were only that...

Another foot and a half I will be able to get my DT 10 s back

And they continue to let water out the East Fork. Water was gushing out the other day.

City of Dallas is selling the precious H2O , don't know the answer Slim but the info out there is that they'll take it down 10 more feet if they are inclined to. Care to Chime in D R

Its getting dangerous out there. Random stumps are just below the surface way out there in the middle of the lake. It isn't really safe to run on plane anywhere these days.

Chris,the bright side is you will be able to fish the river again soon.At least the stretch between I30 and the golf course!

And to think .....the local's still water their yards several days a week.

OR maybe I should say 'the locals are still allowed to water their yards several days a week'.

You will be happy to know that many locals have either voluntarily reduced their watering or their lines are completely out of the water like mine has been all year.So I have paid my fee and haven't used one drop of water from the lake.

First of all, I am totally against the waste of water. Gotta remember though, it it wasn/t for the locals and others watering their yards, filling pools, etc., Ray Hubbard would still be called the East Fork of the Trinity River.

Joe, this isn't totally about the drought or people watering lawns. We are told time and time again these reservoirs are not for fishing and for rec. They are for drinking and sustaining life. The city of Dallas has turned this lake into a profit center nothing more. Remove the addition of the power plant below and subssequent sale of water to the rice farmers north of Livingston and this lake in the current drought is at 431 or thats a heckuva swag anyway. I know I cannot do a darn thing about it as a resident of a different water supplier so this is just me pissin and moanin but it still sucks. Whatever politicians that took the grease to allow that power plant to "need" water from above that damn are bad apples. Sorry for the Rant guys , it'll never be the same.

The City of Dallas is run just about as backwards as it can get and its no wonder Hubbard is as low as it is. The people that are in charge arent exactly the sharpest in the drawer thats for sure.

Stop being sensible. They have to have someone to blame for this.

I have been watching Lavon's level since January and comparing it to Hubbard's level. It shows that Hubbard is being greatly effected by the releasing of water down the East Fork of the Trinity River.

Both lakes generally benefit from the same precipitation and thus the rise and fall of their levels should be somewhat in proportion. On Jan 1 Lavon's level was 479.79 and today it is 480.42, it has only fallen below
the level of Jan 1 a few times and hasn't been below 479.79 since April 4th. Basically Lavon started the year 12.21 feet below full pool and today it sits at 11.58 feet below full pool, the water level is low but has been stable all year.
Ray Hubbard on the other hand started the year at 429 and today sits at 426.97. The closest it has been to 429 all year was on May 15th after a substantial rain and the lake rose 1.14 feet in an 8 day period. That is the closest it has been to the level on Jan 1 all year. If you use Lavon's level as a model then Hubbard should be +/- 6 inches within 10-12 inches of the level it started the year. Truthfully Lavon usually fluctuates a lot more than Hubbard, so in reality Hubbard should be 5-6 low given the precip we've had this year.

It's really easy to see the big picture, H2o = $$$$ these days and the city of Dallas has found a market to liquidate their assets.

One solution is to find some plant life and wildlife that live on the north end of the lake and require a full or close to full lake to survive. Get some wildlife activists and biologists involved and find a federal judge to take action to force the governing powers to sustain a reasonable lake level.

It's sad to see water released daily out of the lake for the purpose of making money.

Pray for rain and a lot of it!!!

It's like I said Doug, if you look at historical data and the relationship level wise between Hubbard and Lavon it was always very steady then 3 years ago it changed and has never been the same. I agree, the fresh water otter family that needs the mininum of 431.4 is on the edge of disaster.

what about the unicorns???

Gill netters got the last summer.

That reminds me, it's my day to water the lawn, thank you Ray Hubbard.

I'm also curious to know when do y'all think the ramps will be unusable? This is absolutely ridiculous by the way and quite possibly the reason why I haven't had very many good days out there lately. Idk maybe it's just an excuse.

This. Follow the money.

Looks like the lake is dropping at the same rate it always has, with 2009 the exception.



http://rayhubbard.uslakes.info/Level.asp




http://average-rainfall.findthebest.com/l/244/Dallas-Texas


We are at a 40" deficit over the past 3 years to average annual rainfall totals. It's not going to come back until that trend breaks.

I've always thought Lavon had the bigger watershed, and they used to release into RH to keep it at a "constant level", that hasn't happened in forever.

The 54 cfs released daily is nothing. Water is sold but it always has been. Any concrete info that more has been pulled from RH than in recent years? Just looking at the charts it looks like it's been falling at the same rate as past years.

It can come back, in the form of a hurricane or tropical storm along with a really wet season and rainfall totals coming back to normal.

Ray Hubbard has a small water shed. In normal times Lavon releases a lot of water into it. Ray Hubbard has a watershed of 302 square miles. Most all of it covered with houses and concrete. Lavon has water shed of 768 square miles. Which most of it is still rural area . Ray Hubbard watershed has not caught much of the rainfall around DFW this year.
May the 3rd of 1990 the Lavon Gates were open more than they ever had been. 4 1/2'

If you look at the last time Lavon was at the current level, Hubbard was at 430 or 5.5 feet below full pool. And if you research and compare the 2 lakes, typically Lavon is a right around twice as low as Hubbard.

So why now is Hubbard 3.12 feet lower than it was when Lavon was at the Same level it is now? That apprx 60% lower this time around.

Something has changed and I think it's the fact the Dallas water dept is letting water out of the lake for profit, I know it was built for water supply. It's sad it's not all the drought or over consumption that is causing the lower levels. It's the fact they have figured out how to turn a profit selling the water down stream.

One thing about it though..... Hubbard has been fishing as good have I have every seen it this year. Took almost 18lbs 3 fish limit to win last night. Anchored by a 9.12

Beautiful Lake Ray Hubbard! What a slogan.

I'm starting a campaign for a new slogan. "Ray Hubbard, the lake that sucks just a little less than Lewisville"!

Works for me.

A+

I wonder if theyll shut the queen ramp down soon?

Where are you guys finding fish these days? The rocks on the I30 bridge were so consistent and they seem to be barren now.

Nine feet....must be tough

God love ya, Bridgeport 22+ feet low and sure looks like it's going to be a longggggggggggg time until we see water there....

How much is Dallas selling the water for? Doug, why don't you offer just a bit more $ and buy it back. I'll chip in...lol

We were checking the ramps yesterday, we keep our big fire boat in the water, but we also have a 16 foot center console that we have to use in the event that we need to get to someone that is up north where we can't get our big boat. We keep the smaller boat at the station so we trailer it to the lake.

The end of the east ramp is apprx 12 -15 feet from the water lime and there is a 5-6 foot hole at the end of it. Then about 30 feet or so behind it there is a sandbar that's around 1.5-2 feet under the water. It won't be much longer until it's unusable. I would say at the current rate of the water falling it will be out of commission in 30-45 days.

I wouldn't launch on the west ramp at all, it's shallower plus the wind usually always pounds into that shoreline.....

Just to add to our LRH troubles......

I spoke to two gents from TP&WL Inland Fisheries department yesterday down at the Chandler's ramp and they said there's still no evidence of zebra mussel infestation. Yes, there was the one adult mussel found there at the ramp but no veligers or "active" adults have been found.

They said now that Lavon is infested with veligers and adults it will just take some good rain to wash them down our direction and we will be infested.

So.... It's coming, it's just not here yet. Don't pray for rain whatever you do!

GGGGRRRREAT!

So there are for sure adult mussels in Lavon now? Wow I hadn't heard that.

We need rain more than we need Ray Hubbard not to have mussels

Very true..... But a catch 22 of sorts I guess.

He showed me pictures off of his phone on things they have been seeing.

The pictures from Ray Roberts were crazy.

Other than the wash out at the end of the ramp, it's less than 2' of water all around it with lots of random rocks on the bottom.

the upside is when they finally find the adult mussels in Hubbard the TPWD will no longer allow the water to be dumped out the gates...

Ding ding ding ding!!! We have a winner folks! The solution to the lake being continuously drained has been found. Grab some mussels and throw them in Hubbard asap and we might just get the lake back. I'd rather have a lake with mussels than no lake at all.

Well, its no longer a conspiracy theory. A couple of local land and business owners around Rockwall approached the city of Dallas about the condition of the lake. They were met with an eye opening response: This is just the beginning. The city plans to continue to sell unlimited amounts of water to the power plant and farmers. They estimated the lake would drop another 10 feet before they let up. Their recommendation; get your boats out and fix the infrastructure around the marinas... Good luck. They have a contract with the water authority for unlimited use until 2019.


Gotta keep this thing wet.
http://www.tacwa.org/images/Pumps_and_Pipe_Dreams_East_Fork.pdf

Gotta keep this thing wet.
http://www.nexteraenergyresources.com/pdf_redesign/Forney1.pdf (14 million gallons of water a day...)

Thomas I have first hand knowledge that this meeting happened and you are 100% correct in your assessment

How much affect is the Miller Rd bridge re-construction having on lake levels? I noticed they have had Rowlett Creek dammed up for a while now as they work on it.

It has no impact at all.

This says Forney uses 14 million gallons of waste water a day reclaimed from Garland. Is this coming from the lake or the water treatment plants? According to the Garland website, the 2 water treatment centers dump into Duck Creek that feeds into the Trinity below Hubbard. Is that also then the same water feeding the wet lands? Plus the 35 MGD released from Hubbard daily.

I don't know how the math works out, but from what you just posted the wetlands use 184 MGD(91 MGD from East Fork + 93 MGD from Lake Lavon) and Forney 14 MGD. The Garland website says the Rowlett plant in 2011 treated 17.64 MGD and Duck Creek plant 19 MGD.

http://www.ci.garland.tx.us/gov/rz/utilities/wastewater/default.asp

RH release(54 cfs)- 34.9 MGD
2 Water treatment plants- 37 MGD
= 71.9 MGD total

Just trying to figure out what's going on. Bottom line, both the wet lands and Forney PP have been around since 2004. They account for some of the deficit but the current lake level is because of the drought.

Unlimited use until 2019??? I don't think so. At this rate the lake will be gone long before then.

But just think of all the money the city will then make selling all this new land that's gone dry. It's a win win situation!

Dallas don't care. Not their tax base. They own it all.

"Dallas currently obtains water from area reservoirs: Lake Ray Hubbard, Lake Lewisville, Lake Grapevine, Lake Ray Roberts and Lake Tawakoni. We also have plans to use Lake Fork and Lake Palestine in the future when water demands increase. All of Dallas' water supply comes from surface water (water from reservoirs or rivers). We do not use any ground water (water from wells), although Dallas does sit atop an aquifer."

http://www.dallascityhall.com/dwu/water_quality_information.html

Ray Hubbard at 416 would be a giant puddle.

a good friend of mine once said "i wish they would drain that mud-hole and fill it in with concrete" - looks like his wish may come true after all.

last i saw on this was Jan 21 - they found a single mussel. and larvae/dna/veligers in a water sample. but as of then at least still no conclusion that an infestation has taken place.

Anecdotally this was first reported what 2+ years ago ... the tell-tale signs of zebras just aren't there - water clarity, have you seen it lately?

zebras

I don't think so , like I said if it was purely the drought Lavon would be much worse. During the last had time they had texoma water down sister grove until that had to stop for salt reasons. This time the use or drop didn't even compare and that's without the texoma water until may of this year. No it's going sme where , they may not be spilling it through the gates but they are pumping it some where. Wetlands have been around since then but that power plant has not been on line that long.

Whoaaaaaaaaaa!!! Sure sounds like the state of Texas sure better be making some plans and quick on building some new reservoirs!! Between Dallas and Ft Worth, they are sure drawing down the water...I know things a growing here in Texas but good grief. Some/maybe a lot of this has to be attributed to oil/gas drilling.
Pray for rain...