I am sorry I am a little late in releasing this report. Terri and I are in Bartlesville, OK on our way to Omaha to visit our grandchildren, so hopefully I did not make any mistakes.
Below are the pumping, water releases and evaporation for June 2017. The current surface acres for Lake Fork is at 27,690 acres as the lake is very close to feet full pool.
June 2017

Evaporation for June 2017 = 9.32 inches or about 21,505.9 acre-feet. This is the equivalent of about 7 billion gallons of water lost by evaporation in June.
Rainfall Recorded at the SRA Headquarters for June 2017 = 3.24 inches.

Water Released for June 2017 by the SRA for Downstream Communities (including water pumped by Bright Star Salem and the City of Quitman and this also includes the water continually released through the pipes at the dam to meet the minimum flow requirements of the Sabine River Compact) = 583.1 acre-feet. This equals about 0.25 inches taken off the lake in May and equals about 190 million gallons of water. Communities that receive downstream water include Kilgore, Longview, Henderson and Texas Eastman in Longview.
Water Pumped by Dallas for June 2017 = 5,036.2 acre-feet or about 1.64 billion gallons. This is equal to about 2.18 inches of water being removed off the surface of the lake.

Water Released by the SRA through the Tainter Flood Gates for June 2017 = One or more gates were open for 3 days in June resulting in 11,260.2 acre-feet of water being spilled through the dam for 3.7 billion gallons of water. This is equal to about 4.88 inches of water being removed off the surface of the lake.
So, the total water removed from Lake Fork for June 2017 = 38,385.4 acre-feet or about 16.6 inches of water taken off the surface of the lake. This equals about 12.5 billion gallons of water removed from the lake during June. About 56% of the water removed from the lake in June was due to evaporation, while about 29% was due to spillage through the gates and 13% was from Dallas pumping.
2017 Totals Through June 2017
Evaporation for 2017 = 36.35 inches or about 3.03 feet, which equals about 83,900 acre-feet. This equals about 27.3 billion gallons of water removed through evaporation.
Rainfall Recorded at the SRA Headquarters for 2017 = 22.51 inches.
Water Released by the SRA to Downstream Communities for 2017 = 3,400.2 acre-feet, which equals about 1.4 inches of water off the lake. This equals about 1.1 billion gallons of water released to downstream communities that have rights to the water.
Water Pumped by Dallas for 2017 = 13,885.3 acre-feet or about 4.5 billion gallons. This equals about 6.0 inches of water taken off the lake from Dallas pumping through May. We are now 50% of the way through the calendar year and so far Dallas has pumped about 10.6% of the water they are entitled to for the year.
Water Released by the SRA through the Tainter Flood Gates in 2017 = 34,754.3 acre-feet has been spilled through the Tainter Flood Gates, which equals about 11.3 billion gallons of water. This equals about 15 inches of water off the surface of the lake.

So, the total amount of water removed from Lake Fork so far in 2017 is about 135,939.8 acre-feet or about 4.9 feet of water or about 58 inches off the lake. About 62% of the water removed from the lake through June has been due to evaporation, while 26% has been from water released through the flood gates and 10% has been from Dallas pumping.
Whenever the SRA spills water through the gates the question always arises as to why they cannot allow water to stack up against the gates. The engineering design for the dam does not allow for holding water against the flood gates. It would potentially threaten the structural integrity of the dam and would be in violation of the operating manual for the dam. Also, Lake Fork Dam does not have an emergency spillway, so excess water has to be released through the gates.

Best wishes!!

Steve Chick

Thanks for posting!

Thanks Steve