Lake Belton

Last year about this time there was a discussion on here about how low Belton was. One person made the statement that the lake would probably never be full again. There was even a claim by one to have been told by a COE official that this was likely because of how much water is used by local cities. WEll folks look at the lake level today. It is a little over 606 above sea level. On 5/18 the level was 586.06. This is example of how much water the Leon/Cowhouse watersheds can flow when the rains come. Those that may be relative new comers to central Texas just don't know what this watershed is capable of. The rains have been over several days and the Leon is still out of banks upstream.

There is alot of water being released up stream keeping Belton high. Also head they can't open the gates on Belton due to some work below the damn. Don't know if this is true or just a rumor.

they are working on the below the dam at least the last time I passed over it which was fri

Just like Granger. The flow of the San Gabriel was studied since sometimes in the 20's. The engineer heading the construction of the dam said it would take several years to fill. One good rainy spell filled her up.

The lowest I've ever personally seen Belton was in the early 70's. The lake literally stopped about a mile south of Owl Creek below the elevator. It filled back up that August when a hurricane came in on the Gulf Coast and went up through Central Texas.

Yep, it can fill up in a hurry when the rains come.

fmrmbmin, not to high jack this tread, but since you mentioned Granger how is the lake?

Thanks

I just checked and Granger has no open ramps, 12 ft above pool for the last three days. Belton has 2 ramps open, Frank's Marina and White Flint, I've never used either of those two.

I'm spending all my spare time working on the boat since I can't fish. At least I'm getting some of those "I really need to..." projects done.

I put my boat in at Belton on Sat 5/30 at the Franks Marina ramp. Had to wade through chest deep water to get back and forth to the courtesy dock, but water was about 80F so not bad. Ramp was in good shape with lots of people using it. The lake was just slightly darker than normal and there was not a lot of debris floating.

Went across dam yesterday morning level was almost 519, conservation pool is 504, and releasing water. Don't know if still releasing today. All ramps closed and probably will be for a while. A few people were fishing behind the dam, I just can't make that climb anymore.

No fooling about the water shed it's still steadily rising and more rain predicted for the next week. If they don't get that spillway up and running things could get a little ugly round here coe site shows almost 14.5 above pool. Anyone remember how high it got the last time it flooded in 07?

Hook on the boat and headed to Franks CLOSED !!!!! And gonna be a while before anythings open

Some where around 665.

white flint was open yesterday

they should start releasing any day now

Belton was up another 2.2" overnight. Slowing down at least. I didn't realize the Leon River Watershed went northwest all the way past Proctor to Eastland.

Proctor started dropping about 4 days ago.

So me and Miss Dee went dove hunting and did great

Here are a couple of sites you can look at for the actual data of the lake.

Current Elevation: 608.37 Normal Elevation: 594.00 Currently Releasing: 27 cfs

Up 1 ft in last 96 hours. 607.38 to 608.37

http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/belton/
http://www.swf-wc.usace.army.mil/reports/BLNT2.TXT

looks like they are done working below it and are waiting for the cement to dry so they can let the water out

yes sir, any day now

The Styrofoam debris around Pier 36 marina is horrible. Too bad the marina and barge owners are so irresponsible. The COE should be more active in enforcing the requirements that all new flotation be the enclosed kind. The stuff never deteriorates, just keeps on keeping on.

Yep, I put in at white flint Saturday evening and happened to find a decent concentration of blues. Im sure once they start releasing water they will all scatter.