Lake Whitney is as low as I have ever seen it. Here is some info on ramp closings and questions about water level management.

The Corp of Engineers has the ramp closings posted on its home page of the Whitney web site at the bottom of the page:

http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/whitney/

Has any one else heard about the Brazos River Authority selling lots of water to the gas well drillers and Commanche Peak? I have emailed them, about this issue ( a week ago) but have had no response. I understand there was an article somewhere about how much water BRA has sold off..... to the detriment of all the lakes on the Brazos River Chain... apparently these people answer to no one but the Governor or the Legislature... not sure which... but I would like to know how much water the BRA has sold, how much money they got for it, what they did with the money, and what their policy is with regard to the water level management.....AND WHO THEY SERVE!!! The Corp of Engineers apparently doesn't control the sale of water from the lakes, only the flow through the dams.... At least this is the information I got from talking to the Corp of Engineers folks at Lake Whitney....

The web site for the BRA is http://www.brazos.org/

BRA is blaming the drought (on their web site), but the question is, with the drought, why ist the BRA selling water to the gas well drillers (if that is really the case just what I was told by the Corp folks)...that just compounds the problem....



Does anyone have more info on this issue? Does any one know any of the Board Members of the BRA (they are listed on the BRA web site)

Thanks

I also wonder why we can't put a line or pump station that runs out of Texoma into one of our upstream rivers because it has remained full and flowing all year due to the heavy rains up north. We pump all the good fishing lakes down so why can't we fill them up with this water.

Just my .02

On a flood control lake in a drought, 12 ft isn't much. I can remember it being 18ft low......

I visited with one of the BRA board members this afternoon.... here is some of what I think he told me.... I hope that I got it right.

Lake Whitney is not a "public" resource, that it is there to provide water for whatever use the goverment/State thinks fit, it just allows recreational use... if it gets too low that's just the way it is.. unfortunate, even if it impacts the local recreational businesses and economy around the lake. Its primary purpose is not for recreation... it is a water resource.

The BRA did sell some water to gas drilling companies, but the percentage was relatively very small.... BUT, it does sell lots of water to Commanche Peak which uses water to produce steam for that plant... it is a significant amount of water sold to Commanche Peak.

He said that the money is used to support their staff of about 250 people.. that the Corp only maintains Lake Whitney, but the other lakes in the chain, PK, Granbury,etc are operated and maintained by BRA.. PK and Granbury dams were built by BRA...

The water in the Brazos river chain is too salty for drinking purposes so none is sold to any cities for drinking water... so no usage there

He said that the Corp controled the flow at Whitney which impacts water levels, but agreed that the flow was minimal now.

The bottom line is that the lake is likely to get a lot lower and the recreational use is not a concern for BRA.

At least this is what I think he told me... he was cordial and his reaction to questions were polite... but not necessarily direct... He did say that all the information about sales of water and the use of the money was public record and could be obtained from their Waco Headquarters....

Apparently, a lot of folks here already knew all this (or didn't care), but here it is for what it is worth... not swearing to complete accuracy.. just my understanding....

Stinks but i guess we have to deal with what we got. Maybe the Corps will be smart and maybe work on some of the existing boat ramps while the water is so low, but i kind of doubt that is what will happen. Heck even dreging out around the ramps would be great to do. Happy fishing

Almost every lake in Texas is for water conservation and/or flood control. Recreation is a distant second or third as it should be..

WHAT THE HELL DO THE 250 IDIOTS DO ????

Waste $$$ obviously.

News Flash-Cleburne plans to put in a 9 miles pipeline that will take water from Lake Whitney and transfer it by pipeline through Lake Aquilla to Lake Pat Cleburne, the major source of drinking water for Cleburne residents and businesses.

Guess we better get used to 15 ft low all year. Or could it be worse than that?? Will BRA drain Lake Whitney below normal elevation?

Since none of these organizations are concerned with the recreational aspects of Lake Whitney, maybe we could do what Trout Unlimited did in regards to Canyon Lake. They formed a group that harassed, then hired a legal team to force the controlling agencies to make concessions which were favorable for anglers.

I was told by the gate attendent at McCowan on Saturday that they Corps did plan on cleaning out the bach wash and silted areas of the boat ramps while they are low. That would ease alot of pressure on the remaining open ramps, and now it's just a matter of when do they plan to really do this.

The news about the pipeline is interesting.... The BRA board member from Cleburne said the water was too salty to economically be feasible to purify for drinking water... now they are going to run it into Aquilla and make it suitable for drinking???? Hmmm... And what about the golden algae in the Braso River chain???? Now are we transferring that to Aquilla... maybe we should contact the EPA about the killing of some rare bait fish or something... Have they done an EPA Impact study on this deal? How do we request one?.. That could slow the pipeline down by 20 years or so....

Baylor University started a study (in conjunction with TPWD and others) a couple of years ago to analyze the feasibility of using desalination facility to convert the water for municipal use. Think it was a 5 year study but don't remember. Do a google search. There is a lot of focus on desalination because if they are right about global warming, the sea water will seep into our aquafiers making them useless unless desalination is available.

Besides golden algae, they are trying to prevent zebra mussel expansion and there is some tiny crab that has made it's way through the Brazos River chain that they are watching. The crabs can mess up the dams.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service just finished a report (2008) about the golden cheeked warbler populations/habitat around Cedron & Steele creek areas and Kings creek area. It might be possible to argue that lowering the lake level (as a result of Cleburne's water demands) will result in loss of habitat for the warblers.

The reason Trout Unlimited and the rafting groups successfully challenged the State was that they were able to prove that more dollars were brought in by managing the lake differently (daily releases of set amounts required) than with the State's existing methods.

The Corp got a bunch of stimulus money but they said they were using it to rehab the dam and will "use $1 million in stimulus funds to re-establish and mark public land property lines to mitigate encroachment onto public natural resources".....that means more barb wire fencing.

I heard that the reason for all the let out of the water is because the BRV has a contract with the rice fields down south so they have to keep the water flowing down there

The old boat ramp that was built in 1955 is open @ Juniper Cove marina. I launched my 20 foot pontoon boat last weekend ,and they even put up courtisy docks by it. They charge $10.00 to use,but it works.The people that run the marina are also very nice,and will go out of their way to help.

I bought property down there in the mid 90's and kept a boat @ harbor master for a couple yrs. the lake has been down 10+ feet since then. But harbor master marina is deep and only charge $3.00 to lauch