Oswego, NY -- Only a good soaking rain for many, many days is going to help water levels in Lake Ontario this summer, officials with the International St. Lawrence River Board of Control said today. The board conducted a telephone news conference today with media from the United States and Canada concerning the historically low water levels stretching throughout...
Cathy Goodnough, leader of the Sandy Pond Channel Maintenance Association, pulls a pontoon boat into the water May 1 to demonstrate how shallow the water is near the channel between Sandy Pond and Lake Ontario, which can be seen in the distance.
Oswego, NY -- Only a good soaking rain for many, many days is going to help water levels in Lake Ontario this summer, officials with the International St. Lawrence River Board of Control said today.
The board conducted a telephone news conference today with media from the United States and Canada concerning the historically low water levels stretching throughout the Great Lakes to Montreal.
Right now, the level of Lake Ontario is about 1 foot 4 inches below average. If the area has an average amount of rain during the summer, the lake level is expected to rise “another 4 inches from now through August,” said David Fay, chairman of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Regulation Office for Environment Canada.
He also said the peak level for the lake will be later than usual. Residents, vacationers and campers along Lake Ontario usually see the highest lake levels in June. He said this year, the peak will be in July or August. Levels will begin going down in August.
And if the year remains dry, water levels won’t increase at all, possibly resulting in a sour tourism season.
“We have heard from many boaters who are having problems with access to their (lakefront) property and boats,” Fay said.
James Vollmershausen, Canadian chair of the International St. Lawrence River Control Board, said board members are not in the tourism business. But “I’m sure business owners will express the same concerns that their businesses are being impacted,” he said.
Vollmershausen said Lake Ontario gets 85 percent of its water supply from Lake Erie with the rest coming from runoff from local lakes and streams and rainfall. He said Lake Erie’s water level is about 2 inches below average and about 8 inches below last year. The level should remain low for the next several months.
Runoff from lakes and streams was down this year because of a lack of snow. Vollmershausen also said snowmelt the area did see occurred about a month earlier than normal.
There also has been little rain in April and May, he said.
The National Weather Service extended forecast calls for normal amounts of rain (about 2.5 to 2.84 inches) expected in the Watertown area for May through July.
Fay said the outflow of water from Lake Ontario has been reduced some, but the control board still has to balance the flow because of very low water levels in Montreal Harbor, one of the major North American sites for receipt of goods. The harbor’s water level is nearly 6 feet below average.
Fay also said water levels in the St. Lawrence River follow those of Lake Ontario, so they also are low now and won’t get much better without average to high rainfall this summer.
Contact Debra J. Groom at dgroom@syracuse.com , 470-3254 or 251-5586
Lake Ontario levels
The average level of Lake Ontario for the month of May is 246.13 feet. Here is how the average level each May 24 since 2005 compared to the average level for May:
2010: down 11.0 inches from the May average.
2009: up 6.7 inches.
2008: up 9.8 inches.
2007: up 0.8 inches.
2006: down 5.9 inches.
2005: up 2.4 inches.
Source: Source: International St. Lawrence River Board of Control and Army Corps of Engineers