Below are a few emails addressing a recent complaint I received concerning Lake Sweetwater. It brought to light some interesting questions about the established conservation pool levels that are published for our state.

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Fred-

I did some research this AM on Lake Sweetwater. The problem is where the conservation pool level is set - 2093.2. The current elevation is 2087.28, showing the lake to be 5.9 feet low. We get our information from the USGS web site - http://tx.usgs.gov/ and from the Corps of Engineers. I called the USGS office in San Angelo and spoke with the people that gather this information. The phone call lead to an interesting question. Where do the conservation pools come from and who sets them?

A large protion of the lakes we report on are Corps managed and the conservation pool levels have proven to be accurate. Occasionally we run in to problems with lakes like Sweetwater that are city managed, or managed by some other group or organization.

After talking to the San Angelo USGS office I learned that Sweetwater is a city-managed lake and the city water authority set the conservation pool. I called the City of Sweetwater offices and was given the number to the city water reclamation office. I called and spoke with the manager (supervisor?) Micky Rodgers and told him about the conservation pool of 2093.20 and asked if he knew who had set it. He didn't know, but did tell me that he thought it should be set at 2104. At a conservation pool of 2104 the lake would be reported at 16.72 feet low, which would more accurately describe the current condition.

My research also lead to another interesting fact. I asked the San Angelo USGS office who had compiled the conservation pool levels for the state. They thought the information came from the Texas Almanac. The Texas Almanac is published by the Dallas Morning News. I called their offices and found that they do not list conservation pool levels. They referred me to the Texas Water Development Board.

I am still awaiting information from a few different sources, but here are a few conclusions:

We have a list of conservation pool levels circulated by a number of government agencies in our state that no one is quite sure who was responsible for compiling. Most of the levels accurately represent conditions at these lakes, a small percentage of them don�t. This also brings in to question the methods by which conservation pool levels are set. Is there a standard? How much time is needed to accurately establish the conservation pool level? Who is responsible for maintaining the statewide list? How often is it updated � if ever?

I am sorry about your experience at Sweetwater, but we are limited by the information that is available. Hopefully your expreience will lead to some action.


J.P. Greeson
----- Original Message -----
From: J.P. Greeson
To: fred
Sent: Sunday, April 04, 2004 11:16 PM
Subject: Re: WHO DOES THE RESEARCH

I just forwarded your email to Karen Taylor, our West Texas and Panhandle reporter. We are checking in to our source on that lake.

If you need more immediate information, please visit www.texasfishingforum.com.

JP

----- Original Message -----
From: fred
To: general_mail@texasfishingforum.com
Sent: Sunday, April 04, 2004 7:50 PM
Subject: WHO DOES THE RESEARC

FOUR OF PLANNNED A TRIP TO LAKE SWEETWATER THIS PAST WEEKEND BASED ON YOUR FISHING REPORT SHOWING THE LAKE LEVEL AT 5.5' LOW. IMAGINE OUR SURPRISE WHEN WE GOT TO THE RAMP ONLY TO FIND IT 200' FROM THE EDGE OF THE WATER. THE LAKE IS AT LEAST 24' FEET LOW AND IS CLOSED TO ANY BOAT LAUNCHING. COME ON. YOUR FALSE INFORMATION COST THE FOUR OF US A WEEKEND AND SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS. IF THIS IS THE BEST YOU CAN DO, I'LL BE SURE AND TELL EVERYONE I TALK TO WHICH WEBSITE NOT TO VISIT.

THANKS FOR NOTHING,
REALLY PISSED ON DRY LAND

What does "conservation pool level" mean? How does that determine if the lake is low? I have never understood this. Can anyone help me understand this?

Thanks!

Conservation pool level is meant to be the normal level of the lake, or what is sought to be maintained.

J.P., Another lake that you may want to look at as far as reporting the lake level is Lake Tawakoni. I have noticed that it is shown as being 2.78', but currently it is only 1.17' low. It looks like that number has just been carried forward for several weeks and not changed even though the water level has.

Just my $0.02

PF

Conservation pool level isn't always the spillway or morning glory level.It basically is the normal operating level for that given lake. Then they have a flood level like on Lake Proctor which can run as high as 8 to 10 ft if they are protecting the people down stream. When I get to my Personal computer I'll list the full levels of the Lake around central Texas that I have compiled by checking the levels after I had just been to the lake. Then we can get input from others that actually knows what the lakes are doing at that time.

Conservation pool level is what the controlling authority, such as the USACE, tries to maintain the lake level at and considers such level to be the "normal" full level. The current level will be the elevation above sea level at this moment in time and will be lower due to draw downs or drought or higher due to flood conditions. If the lake is a flood control lake, they will allow them to rise as needed as safely possible and then lower the lake gradually to control downstream flooding. That rise can be as little as the 8-10 feet rise on Proctor or as massive as a 30+ feet rise on Whitney. The following link will give you the listed USGS conservation pool levels:
http://tx.usgs.gov/stor_elev.html
The following link will give you the real time current elevations:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/tx/nwis/current?type=lake

Here is my records for Full pool:
Cisco - 1513
Hubbard Creek - 1182.53
PK - 999
Granbury - 693
Whitney - 533
Aquilla - 537.46
Leon - 1174.45
Proctor - 1162 to 1168(this is what it was raised to but hasn't made it yet)
Belton - 594
Spence - 1899.87
Oak Creek - 2000
O.H.Ivie - 1551.50
Coleman - 1717.85
Brownwood - 1424.55
Brady - 1743
Buchanan - 1021.95
LBJ - 825
Alan Henery - 2220

This is fairly accurate but don't rely soly on this, use your own judgement

"YOUR FALSE INFORMATION COST THE FOUR OF US A WEEKEND AND SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS. IF THIS IS THE BEST YOU CAN DO, I'LL BE SURE AND TELL EVERYONE I TALK TO WHICH WEBSITE NOT TO VISIT."

If he had posted a question on this forum about Lake Sweetwater, I could have answered it. My deer lease is 5 miles away and I was there last weekend for spring turkey. So by NOT consulting this forum, he failed to receive a correct answer. Yes the lake is very low, but the fishing is great on DK's from the bank, especially on the north side of the lake close to the dam area.

Clong-

Thanks for the update. I told Fred to get on the forum next time he planned a trip. He sent me another email after I did a little research on the problem.

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J.P.,

YOU DA MAN!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR OBVIOUS CONCERN IN THIS MATTER. MAYBE YOUR RIGHT ABOUT GETTING SOME ACTION. PLEASE KEEP ME INFORMED AND AGAIN THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

SINCERELY,

FRED

Is there anyone out there smart enough to find out WHY the above CURRENT levels do not include Amistad and Falcon? They used to include those 2 lakes, but now do not. I do have another source, but do not believe the new source is very accurate for Amistad or Falcon.

Here's what I've got on Amistad and Falcon

Interesting that one of the sites gives Amistad in feet and the other in meters.

http://www.nps.gov/amis/home.htm

http://www.ibwc.state.gov/wad/flowdata.htm

Just a follow-up on this thread, the Conservation Pool Storages & Elevations for Selected Texas Lakes and Reservoirs now shows Sweetwater's conservation pool level to be 2116.6' AMSL