Dual Lake Level for Wawasee off the

By Deb Patterson

Editor-In-Chief

While requesting the courts to establish a dual lake level for Wawasee was an initial thought, that idea has been pushed aside.

During a public informational meeting Tuesday, June 13, Bill Pipp, president of the Turkey Creek Dam and Dike Conservancy, stated he does not agree with the dual lake level idea. “Dropping the level of the lake is not the right way to go,” he said. “There is no way to put the water back in.”

The proposal the conservancy is making to the town is to install flow meters at the three inlets into Wawasee, along with at the Main Channel, railroad bridge, front street bridge and bridge at SR 13 to “understand how much water is coming in, flowing through the channel and put a formula together for how long it takes water to flow through when we open the gate.”

He noted Webster Lake has the dual lake level — where the water level is lowered in the fall and then allowed to raise back up in the spring. However, he spoke with Department of Natural Resource officials, particularly Ken Smith with the division of water. “Crazy things happen when new rules were set, in a bad way. The better way I think is how to manage the level,” he stated.

Pipp explained how for the past year the conservancy has worked with Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation and Dr. Jerry Sweeten at EcoSystems Connections Institute in its Wawasee Inlets Nutrients Study to obtain lake level readings on the three buoys being used for the study. While a year’s worth of data has been received “10 years would be better,” stated Pipp. That data is being used daily by Chad Jonsson, who operates the water control device gates.

“We know what the real level is at, at those points,” said Pipp. Those points are at inlets to Wawasee at Leeland Channel, Turkey Creek and Dillon Creek.

During Pipp’s explanation of the flow meters, he noted while a rain event could be predicted, and the gates are open two weeks ahead of that, it doesn’t mean that rain will happen. The information gathered will provide sound data for when such an event occurs. “A low lake is a lot worse than a high lake,” he said.

“We want everyone to recognize that it will take a while (to get the data). We need to talk with each other,” he said referring to the operator of the dam at Papakeechiee, and Allen Lake at Tri-County Fish and Wildlife area. It may take five, seven or 10 years to get data that is sound. “Nobody will be perfect.”

The attendees included people associated with marinas, pier companies, Syracuse Lake Association, WACF, WPOA, Papakeechie Lake, Jonsson, Syracuse Town Manager David Wilkinson and a few lake residents.

A time for open discussion concluded the meeting. John Heckaman, Jonsson, Doug Anderson, Robert Studebaker and Dan Mikolajczak were among those providing additional information and asking questions.

Among the questions was possibility of dredging under the railroad bridge, widening the inlet from Papakeechie Lake, evaporation rates and the amount of water coming in from the springs.

Regarding the later question, Smith, quoted information from a study by Lilly Center from Lakes and Streams in 2013 following the major drought in 2012 that lowered Lake Wawasee. The study “Quantification of lake water level influences for Wawasee and Syracuse lakes: Lake and watershed water budgets for 2011, 2012 and 2013,” indicated the springs add 20 inches to the lake. That study also included information on evapotranspiration. It can be found at lakes.grace.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Lake-Level-Report-Wawasee-and-Syracuse.pdf.

“The lake level is uncontrollable,” said Smith. “There are factors that man cannot change. We can’t control the atmosphere through evaporation, spring flow and rain.”

Additionally, Smith stated Wawasee is a huge lake and behaves more like the great lakes where levels are also determined by air temperature, rain fall and evaporation.

Smith stated the collection of data is the appropriate thing to be doing.

Documents were also made available by Jonsson on the year-to-date average lake level (from the buoy readings), high point and low points. Information was also provided on when the gates were open and the height of the gates along with the time period. A letter from the county surveyor provided the water control device elevations.

The water control device elevations provided showed the adjusted legal level of Syracuse lake is lower than the legal court established level of Syracuse Lake and that the top of the spillway is also lower than the court legal established level.

The legal established level of Syracuse Lake per Circuit Court records is 858.89 feet.