Water level update from the Lake County Water Authority
By Anna Ely | Jul 17, 2018
May was an unusually wet month and June was slightly wetter than normal. The rainfall over the past couple of months has kept the lake levels up.
As of this morning Lake Minnehaha, the reference lake for the Clermont Chain, is at 96.53 ft. MSL, slightly below the middle of the regulatory range. The regulatory range is from 96.0 ft. to 97.50 ft. The lake is about 0.36 ft. higher than it was at this same time last year. The combined flow from Big and Little Creeks into Lake Louisa is 32 cfs (cubic ft. per second) or 14,314 gpm (gallons per minute). As a comparison, in October 2017 after Hurricane Irma, the combine flow from Big and Little Creeks was 659 cfs or 289,960 gpm. The Cherry Lake Dam is closed.
For the Harris Chain of Lakes, all the lakes are essentially at the regulatory levels. Lake Apopka is currently at 65.71 ft. which is 0.06 ft. (about 1/8 of an inch) above the regulatory level of 65.64 ft. Flow from Lake Apopka through the Nutrient Reduction Facility (NuRF) is at 230 cfs as of July 16th. The middle lakes (Beauclair, Carlton, Dora, Eustis and Harris) are currently at 61.98 ft., about ΒΌ if an inch above the regulatory level of 61.79 ft. Flow from the middles lakes through the Burrell lock and dam is at 371 cfs. For Lake Griffin, the lake is currently at 57.76 ft. which is 0.03 ft. (about 1/16 of an inch) below the regulatory level of 57.79 ft. Flow from Lake Griffin through the Moss Bluff lock and dam is at 315 cfs.
We are a month and a half into the wet season and hurricane season and are watching the lake levels closely. We will respond as necessary as the summer rainy season and the tropical storm season continues.
