Below are the pumping, water releases and evaporation for October 2016.


Evaporation for October 2016 = 6.25 inches.


Rainfall Recorded at the SRA Headquarters for October 2016 = 1.52 inches.


Water Releases for October 2016 by the SRA for Downstream Communities = 884.1 acre-feet or about 0.43 inches off the lake.


Water Pumped by Dallas for October 2016 = 8,193.6 acre-feet or about 4.02 inches off the lake.


Water Released by the SRA through the Tainter Flood Gates for October 2016 = 0.0.


So, the total water removed from the lake for October 2016 = About 10.07 inches or about 0.89 feet with most of that coming from Dallas pumping.



2016 Totals through October:


Evaporation for 2016 = 66.91 inches or about 5.58 feet, which equals approximately 139,500 acre-feet (this is approximate because as the lake drops the surface area shrinks. Right now the lake is at 24,445 surface acres versus 27,690 surface acres at full pool).


Rainfall Recorded at the SRA Headquarters for 2016 = 39.27 inches or about 3.27 feet.


Water Released by the SRA to Downstream Communities for 2016 = 4,774.9 acre-feet, which equals about 2.35 inches off the lake. This equals about 1.56 billion gallons of water released to downstream communities that have rights to the water.



Water Pumped by Dallas for 2016 = 48,602.1 acre-feet or about 1.99 feet or about 23.88 inches taken off the lake by Dallas pumping. This equals about 15.8 billion gallons of water removed through pumping by Dallas so far in 2016.


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 94.5 billion gallons of water.


So, the total amount of water removed from the lake so far in 2016 is about 482,941 acre-feet or about 19.76 feet. About 60% of that was the downstream releases through the Tainter Flood Gates when the lake was overfull to prevent damage to the dam. About 29% has been due to evaporation. About 10% has left the lake so far in 2016 via pumping by Dallas.


October was by far the most water Dallas has pumped this year. They had averaged less than 6000 acre feet per month through July and then pumped very little water in August and September, but in October they pumped 8193.6 acre-feet from Lake Fork. The total so far for the year of 48,602.1 acre-feet represents about 37% of the water that Dallas is entitled to pump from Lake Fork for the year yet we are now 83% 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 52 million gallons of water per day in 2016.


Best wishes and as usual pray/hope/dance for rain.


Steve Chick