Lake Hefner at record low water levels, when will city buy Canton water?

[gjl]

My house foundation agrees with you.

[Urbanized]

Hefner has picked up more than a foot of elevation in the past three days; more than in any similar time frame in recent memory. It’s now about a foot from full pool, and will still be getting lots of runoff over the next few days. Suddenly seems possible if not likely that we will see full pool before the dog days of summer.

Attachment 18128

Lake Hefner has picked up THREE MORE INCHES since I posted this around lunchtime, today.

[ManAboutTown]

I will never understand why one group of people on this forum act like OKC is located in a tropical climate with an endless supply of fresh water every time we are in the midst of an unusually rainy period such as the one we are right now, while another (largely different) group of people act like OKC will have the same imminent water issues as the Southwest U.S. every time we are in an unusually dry period such as the one we were in for much of the past year. The reality is that over a multiyear timescale, OKC's climate is almost equally influenced by the Gulf of Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, and the deserts of the Southwestern U.S. and Mexico, meaning that we will almost always be cycling into or out of drought conditions. It is a constant push and pull that has been happening since the city was founded 130+ years ago (and long before that, of course). Possibly we will have higher average annual rainfall totals as time goes on due to climate change causing more days with high precipitable water values, but by the same token, we may well also have longer periods of severe drought due to climate change causing the jet stream to weaken and weather patterns to stagnate. The city is set up well in terms of future water supply (especially given that we have water rights in Southeast Oklahoma which does tend to get more consistent rains), but our precipitation patterns are still erratic enough that it would be shortsighted to abandon all water conservation efforts every time our reservoirs hit capacity.

Very well said. Thank you for providing an educated take on the subject.

[Midtowner]

I'm not sure why some here want to try to convert western water issues to central Oklahoma water issues. OKC doesn't even have some if its biggest water assets online yet. We are provided for well into the future and are making constant investments in our water infrastructure. The sky may indeed be falling in Las Vegas, but that's just not the case here.

There may be a time when the courage of man fails and an odd/even cycle is really necessary, but it is not this time. That cylce was put into place in the midst of an historic drought. It can be put back into place again if needs be. And even back when we were in a historic drought, we came nowhere close to running dry. We had safeguards in palce in the Canton reservoir, and in retrospect, even the release of that water was in all likelihood completely unnecessary. This thread has been hilariously panicky with hand wringing and fearmongering galore... and aside from some bait shops in Canton, everyone was fine.

Even with the odd/even cycle, I can still water every day with a few hours difference, on even days, I start watering at the stroke of midnight and can then water again beginning about 10PM. The grass won't notice the couple hours of difference.

[Urbanized]

Hefner is now only about 4” from full pool, and might yet make it this week. That will mean something like 1-1/2’ of movement in less than a week. I nerdily follow that lake’s elevation fairly closely, and I don’t believe I ever recall that much movement in such a short time.

[SEMIweather]

Hefner is now only about 4” from full pool, and might yet make it this week. That will mean something like 1-1/2’ of movement in less than a week. I nerdily follow that lake’s elevation fairly closely, and I don’t believe I ever recall that much movement in such a short time.

I drove around the Yukon/El Reno area yesterday and the North Canadian was about as high as I can ever remember seeing it (granted, I didn't live here in May 2015).

[gjl]

I'm surprised Canton lake is still 3.17 ft below normal.

[Snowman]

Hefner is now only about 4” from full pool, and might yet make it this week. That will mean something like 1-1/2’ of movement in less than a week. I nerdily follow that lake’s elevation fairly closely, and I don’t believe I ever recall that much movement in such a short time.

According to the Oklahoma Water Resource Board's map Hefner is now at normal level
https://www.owrb.ok.gov/supply/droug...%20Storage.pdf

With most of the rivers high right now, they probably will store some extra in the next couple weeks
https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/new/inde...eal&r=ok&w=map

[Urbanized]

According to the Oklahoma Water Resource Board's map Hefner is now at normal level
https://www.owrb.ok.gov/supply/droug...%20Storage.pdf

With most of the rivers high right now, they probably will store some extra in the next couple weeks
https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/new/inde...eal&r=ok&w=map

I mean, it BASICALLY is. It’s now a little over an inch shy of its full pool elevation, which is 1199’. It’s basically picked up two full feet over the past three days. It’ll probably be above full pool by later tonight at its current pace.

Instead of the website you cited I’d encourage visiting this one, which provides much more detail and accuracy: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...093&period=P7D

[Shortsyeararound]

They are finally mowing at Hefner!!
And thank you Mother Nature for filling the lake.

[baralheia]

I mean, it BASICALLY is. It’s now a little over an inch shy of its full pool elevation, which is 1199’. It’s basically picked up two full feet over the past three days. It’ll probably be above full pool by later tonight at its current pace.

Instead of the website you cited I’d encourage visiting this one, which provides much more detail and accuracy: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...093&period=P7D

You were right - it hit 1199' last night at 11PM - and then gained another half-foot since then. That's a total gain of almost 3 feet since July 6th.

[SEMIweather]

Looks like the gage height has reached as high as 1201.1' in the past. Wonder how close we will get to that given the widespread 4-6" rain totals in the watershed over the past three days.

[billokc]

As of 11:15pm July 14, Hefner lake level is 1200.6 feet.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitorin...093&period=P7D

[5alive]

As of August 8, Canton is slightly above normal. Click on image for a larger look...