Two weeks of rain runs rivers, creeks, and lakes over the edge

By MINDY POEHL | Central Texas Edition

The water level at Lake Waco was raised seven feet in a project that provides Waco and the surrounding area with water for the next 50 years. With heavy rains falling the past few weeks, excess water entered the lake, making the water level five feet above the conservation pool. The gates of the dam were opened to let the water flow into the Bosque River. Photo by Mindy Poehl

May 13, 2004 -- The level of Lake Waco has risen and the rise is not only due to lots of recent rainfall.

The increased water level of Lake Waco is part of a project that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with the City of Waco and Texas Parks and Wildlife has been working on for quite a while.

With the lake raised seven feet, it will now be able to provide Waco and its surrounding communities with drinking water for 50 years.

"It is a pretty big deal because water can limit the growth of an urban area, like Waco," John Tibbs, Texas Parks and Wildlife district supervisor, said.

The advantage of raising the water level is not only the added water capacity, but it added 1,200 more acres of lake to recreate on, Tibbs said. The water provides much needed recreational activities.

"There is now more room to ski or fish on," said Tibbs.

The rise of water also upgraded the facilities around the lake.

"We ended up with new facilities because we had to move parks and roads," said Wiley Stem, assistant city manager.

Boat ramps were moved to higher grounds and picnic tables were moved, Tom Johnston, hydraulic engineer with the Corps of Engineers, said.

"It also improves the fish habitat dramatically," said Tibbs. "The new habitats provide cover for fish. They can live by the trees, now, where they are shaded and feel protected. People can go out there and catch a lot more fish, too."

Area anglers will be better off in the next two to three years because the lake is being stocked with Florida Bass and Blue Catfish. Flooding the shallow areas was also positive to animals like ducks and water fowl.

Raising the level of Lake Waco could have negatively affected some wildlife, because the water displaced deer and other mammals.

"We are establishing wildlife habitats in all of the open fields around the lake," Stem said. "We are planting trees and we bought 1,000 acres of land to help restore the habitats. This is part of our habitat mitigation for the animals."

Tibbs ensured that the "project is 95 percent positive for wildlife and fisheries."

The City of Waco also created the Wetlands Complex as part of the mitigation process.

The Wetlands consists of 174 acres that filters out pollutants and the excess nutrients found in the lake, Stem explained. Water from the Bosque River is pumped into the Wetlands, where the plants absorb the nutrients and filter them out of the water. The cleaned water then flows into Lake Waco.

"The Wetlands were added to meet the regulations of the lake and to act as a filter for cleaner water," explained Justin Taylor, water quality project director for the Lonestar Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Over the past weeks, Lake Waco received eight to ten feet of water from rain. After the lake was already high, the rain water brought the level of the lake four or five feet above the conservation pool. The conservation pool is the level in which the reservoir holds the perfect amount of water. The level can go above or below a certain level, but if kept at 462 feet above sea level, everything works best, explained Tibbs.

The dam was newly reconstructed to protect Waco from a 100 year flood. The conservation pool is held at 462 feet, and the top of the dam is 503 feet, "so we have a huge amount of space left for water, in case of a flood," Stem said.

Water is currently being released from the dam, in a controlled manner, where it flows into the Bosque River, travels five miles into the Brazos River and is eventually dumped into the Gulf of Mexico.