home : outdoors : outdoors     October 19, 2007
10/12/2007 6:51:00 PM     Email this article • Print this article
The permanent gauge near the rest lake dam reads roughly six feet as of last week. The rust marks on the gauge indicate what water levels generally are.
As of last week, the Kawaguesaga dam – where the Minocqua chain empties into the Tomahawk River – has been set at its minimum flow rate all summer and so far this fall. The gauge on the side of the structure illustrates that the dam is set at its two-inch minimum opening. Though rates of inflow between the Manitowish chain and the Minocqua chain are similar, rates of outflow are not even close.
Rest Lake dam will maintain status quo until next summer
DNR processing public comments, gets ready for environmental survey
According to Jon Simonsen, environmental analysis and review specialist for the Department of Natural Resources, a decision will not be made on how to proceed with operation of the Rest Lake dam on the Manitowish chain until after next summer.

Before it is decided whether the operating order will change, he said he and his colleagues need to sort through public comments and an environmental impact analysis needs to be conducted with the results distributed publicly.

Simonsen said he is also involved in a project to put together a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page aimed at helping people better understand the situation with the dam and the affected water systems.

He said the FAQ page will be posted on the DNR's website and will also be available in a hard copy format.

"Right now I am still pulling together all of the comments that we took down at the public input meeting," he said, "and also working on the frequently asked questions document."

He said once those projects are finished, he will focus his attention on the environmental impact study.

"This winter we'll be drafting the environmental analysis document," Simonsen said. "That has to go out for public review and what we're hoping is to release that next summer - we want public participation to be planned for the summer months."

These steps taken by the DNR to potentially change the dam's operating order are outlined in the Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act (WEPA).

He said, however, that the schedule is tentative and could be pushed back because of extra research.

Comparison with Minocqua chain

Most DNR officials, like regional director John Gozdzialski, maintain that every water system has its own unique characteristics that make water level maintenance on a specific water system incomparable to other water systems.

"Each and every dam typically has different flow requirements," Gozdzialski said. "You can't compare the Minocqua chain with the Rest Lake chain."

He said each dam needs to be individually regulated as to what amount of water flows over it.

"All dams are not created equally when it comes to passing minimum flows," Gozdzialski said. "Some of the dams are, by law, required to pass certain flows and in the case of Rest Lake, there is a public service commission from the 30s that dictates what the flows should be."

Though outflow will naturally need to range on different water systems, the factor that dictates what the outflow rate needs to be is the inflow rate.

According to a letter submitted to the DNR by attorney Michael Fitzpatrick, the inflow to the Manitowish chain averages 55 cubic feet per second (cfs) and, as of Aug. 1, had an inflow of 40 cfs.

And according to Rob Olson of Xcel Energy, who operates the dam, the Manitowish chain had an inflow of 27 cfs as of Aug. 29 and an outflow into the Manitowish River of 32 cfs.

Though 30 cfs is lower than 55 or 40, it becomes evident that it is still too much outflow to maintain consistent water levels in the chain.

It is obviously too much flow because the lakes are being emptied, but this becomes even more evident that inflow and outflow are out of balance when inflow and outflow totals are compared between the Minocqua and Manitowish chains.

According to Bill Rose of the United States Geological Survey, who has been conducting inflow studies on the chain for the last year, his water budget reveals that the chain averages an inflow of 47.6 cfs throughout the year - a number that falls right in between 55 and 40 and is much higher than the Manitowish chain's Aug. 29 inflow of 27 cfs.

However, the reason the Minocqua chain is not being drained like the Manitowish chain is because the Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company (WVIC), who operates the dam, has been very consistent about keeping the flow out of Lake Kawaguesaga into the Tomahawk River set at seven cfs all summer long and into the autumn months.

Sam Morgan of the WVIC said even with the minimal seven cfs outflow, water levels on the chain have been dropping.

"The lake level is dropping," Morgan said, "which illustrates to me, the obvious, that between the seven cfs that's going out of the dam and what is evaporating off the lake, those two numbers exceed how much is coming in. But that's nothing profound, that's just simple physics there."

Drawing water from the chain

Olson said the dryness of the Manitowish chain could be exacerbated by cranberry farms pulling water out of the chain and tributaries to the chain.

"I think there are cranberry operations that are having an influence on where that inflow number is," he said. "I think there are a number of operations that draw water directly out of the reservoir and then there's other operations that take out of the river system."

Olson said though the water pumped out of the chain for cranberry harvest is affecting water levels, he is not sure how much is being taken.

"That's not quantified," Olson said. "I don't have any record and I don't think the DNR has any record of what they're doing."



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