I took a look at our normal rainfall through October on the Weather Channel. Through October, Tyler�s normal amount is 37.92 inches.

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/75707

According to the KTBB weather website, Tyler rainfall so far this year has been 37.88 inches.

http://www.ktbb.com/weather/

Dr. Bob Peters says we can expect 2-4 inches of rain with the system about to affect us tomorrow through Thursday. If we get 3 inches in Tyler that will bring our year-to-date total to 40.88 inches, three inches above normal.

So why has the level at Lake Tyler continued to fall all year? Why is the lake still 5.5 to 6 feet low?

I think the City of Tyler is not being forthcoming about either the amount of water leaking from the hole in the dam OR the amount of water that is being either released or pumped from the lake.

I live five minutes from the Hwy 64 ramp but haven't been able to launch there all year. If the lake drops another foot we won't be able to launch at the marina, either.

The big problem is the small watershed that "feeds" water into the two lakes. You mentioned the 64 ramp. When's the last time you have seen that creek full and running hard. Unfortunately, that's the primary water supplier into the East Lake. If it's not pumping in water, all the lake catches is what falls directly on top of it. So a 3 inch rainfall will not add much more than just that to the lake. Plus, most of that rain causes the lake to move outward over the shallow flats, but you don't see a lot of "upward" water level change. (Sure hope that last sentence makes sense)

Since when has the city ever cared about whether you can launch or not? The only one's they listen to complaints from are the homeowners on the lake. They make money from them, not us. As long as there is water at the intake, that's all that matters to them.

the bigger problem is water use, this plus the drought are a bad combo

a lot more people live in Texas now and same number of reservoirs for the past 20+ years.

and do not forget we have millions of people here that are not accounted for in our population (illegal immigrants) and that the average family uses up to 400 gal a day

I could understand the falling water level if we were in a drought, but we're not...at least not this year. We have received average rainfall in 2013, probably about to be above average if the system tomorrow plays out as advertised.

When a lake falls throughout the year despite an average of almost four inches of rain per month, it just seems to me that something unseen and unpublicized is going on.

We're at the 30 year average in terms of rain. How did the lake ever reach its "normal" level in the past if it can't keep up with the same amount of water this year?

Prairie Creek is the main creek that feeds the West Lake and it runs right in front of my house. It will have water rushing down it when it rains. It is all leaking out.

In 2006 the lake was 8.5 ft low. It rained 8" in two days and a week later it rained 7" more and the lake was at full pool from 8.5 ft low.

That dam has to be leaking like a sift....

That is a fact..

While I understand everyone concern, I love to fish as much as anyone, we have to remeber the primary reason that lakes are built is for water supply.

A common misconception. Average rainfall isn't enough to keep up with population growth and wasteful watering in North and East Texas. It's not good.

The 30 years rainfall average is exactly what it says, a 30 year average. In order to continue basing how full the lake should be off of the 30 year rainfall average, you would have to inflate the rainfall average to correlate with the population growth of the surrounding population (hope that makes sense). And I have no knowledge of the dam situation, so I am not saying the damn isn't adding to the problem.

Can you still launch your boat at both ramps

Ok, so why doesn't someone just walk over to the dams and see how much water is leaking out. Maybe take pics or a video. That will end all speculations. Just saying.

If I'm not mistaken that's how the public found out about the leak at the dam. The City knew about it for quite some time, maybe years, but the rest of us didn't know about it until someone reported seeing water coming from the dam.

The City of Tyler Water Utilities Manager said when the story first broke that it would take something like 91 years for the lake level to drop one foot because of the leak. And if there is one thing we all know for sure after the NSA wiretapping story, Benghazi, and the launch of the healthcare site it's that government will never mislead us about anything.

Marina is shallow, Hillcreek is ok, just use the right side. Left side has collapsed a little so there's a bit of a hole where the two slabs meet.

Current Lake Level is 4.11 ft below full pool.