Water Released by the SRA to Downstream Communities for 2016 = 1,151.7 acre-feet, which equals about 0.50 inches of water taken off the lake. This equals about 376 million gallons of water removed from the lake by releases downstream to communities that have rights to the water.


Water Pumped by Dallas for 2016 = 33,515.8 acre-feet or about 1.2 feet or about 14.4 inches taken off the lake via Dallas pumping. This equals about 10.9 billion gallons of water removed through pumping by Dallas.


Water Released Downstream by the SRA through the Tainter Flood Gates when the Lake was Overfull in 2016 = 290,064 acre-feet or about 10.48 feet or about 125.76 inches. This represents about 94.5 billion gallons of water.


So, the total amount of water removed from the lake so far in 2016 is about 399,777.5 acre-feet or about 14.44 feet. About 73% has been through downstream releases through the flood gates when the lake was overfull to prevent damage to the dam.


Dallas Water Utilities has pumped 33,515.8 acre-feet from Lake Fork so far this year. That represents less than 26% of the water they are entitled to take from Lake Fork in a year yet we now 50% of the way through the year, so it appears Dallas will not take nearly what they are entitled to pump in a year. So far Dallas has averaged pumping about 60 million gallons per day.


Best wishes!!


Steve Chick



Just an added note to my report.


Last summer the lake dropped below full pool on July 19th and then proceeded to gradually drop to 2.5 feet below full pool until rains started refilling the lake in October and November. This year the lake dropped below full pool on June 18th or a month earlier than last year. So, unless we get some substantial thunderstorms or a hurricane then I would expect the lake might drop to nearly 4 feet below full pool by October. Only time will tell. I sure wish we could have kept some of that water that was released through the flood gates, but that is never going to happen given the way this dam was designed.


Steve Chick

The design of the dam seems fine as is..... Never meant or desired to hold back and capture all waters entering a dam's watershed.