PRIEST LAKE OPERATIONS MEETING JULY 13

MONDAY July 13th at 10 am - Idaho Water Resource Board Special Committee Meeting on Priest Lake Operations

Greetings All,

Agenda is attached.

As you may remember, Idaho statute regarding Outlet Dam operations changed in 2016 and the dam ultimately underwent construction both to reinforce the dam's integrity and also to allow for a six inch rise in lake level in drought conditions.  So according to Idaho Code 70-507 , the Idaho Department of Water Resources has been operating Outlet Dam the last several years by utilizing a Best Management Practices Plan with weather forecasting to determine what type of water year the area might have.  In a wet year the lake will be stabilized at 3.0 feet on the gage and in dry years it will be stabilized between 3.0 to  3.5 feet.  If the lake is held high due to a predicted dry year, lake water is slowly released over the driest months to provide flows to the Priest River, while maintaining statutory lake levels.

The Idaho Water Resource Board is holding this public meeting in Priest River to get feedback from the public and water management agencies on how this operation has been working.

For more information you can go to IDWR Lake Management page where you will find water supply updates, links to USGS gages, and contact information https://idwr.idaho.gov/water-resource-protection-safety/lake-management/

Molly McCahon

Lakes Commission

Executive Director

Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/@iwrb Thank you Priestlaker and Facebook.com/PriestLake