From March 25 to March 30 Chandos has risen 7″. As reported earlier, water is flowing in from Flat Creek. It is still in reverse mode today, although it was a bit hard to tell as the wind was going straight north, thereby opposing the flow coming south, which created surface wavelets that appeared to be going in the direction of the wind. However, the flowmeter indicated about 0.5 m/sec flow into Chandos.

I confirmed with the CVCA that they had pulled logs from the dam on three days -the 25th, 26th, and the 28th. They believe Paudash has now peaked and they don’t expect to remove any more logs, unless there is a lot of rain.

Just north of Glen Alda on the Crowe River, Environment Canada operates a Water monitoring Station 02HK005. The results are available in real time on line. Here is a typical graph for the last 15 days:

(see https://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/report/real_time_e.html?stn=02HK005&mode=Graph&startDate=2021-03-15&endDate=2021-03-29&prm1=46&y1Max=&y1Min=&prm2=47&y2Max=&y2Min=)

It is obvious that the flow and level have significantly increased in the last couple of days. The question, which I will attempt to determine, is “has the CVCA taken logs out of the dam at Paudash, or is this totally due to rain and spring melt? ” (suspect both).

The CVCA operate a gauge at the culverts, but I am always wary of the data. The principle of the gauge is to estimate mass flow from the level. However, in a creek that reverses, this type of gauge is inadequate.

Hi all,

Iain Gorman reports that the water flow at the culverts has now reversed, thus there is a net flow into Chandos, which will make the level of the lake start to rise.

This means that the level of the Crowe River at the confluence with Flat Creek is higher than the level of Chandos. I’ll be taking some measurements tomorrow.

Geoff

I have started to monitor the flows and levels in our area.

It seems that the melt is occurring later than last year. As of March 25, 2021 the water flow (cubic metres/sec) at the Environment Canada Glen Alda Station is about 8 m3/s, whereas last year about this time it was twice that. This gauge, on the Crowe River, measures the combined mass flow out of Chandos and Paudash.

The ice came out early last year, (April 11) about 8 days ahead of the long term average. This year we have had a lot of rain and some warm weather which no doubt will speed up Ice-Out,

The big question always is what will the spring peak water level be. There are a lot of moving parts, but in general, the more ice/snow that can vacate the water shed early, the longer the freshet will last, and so the lower the ultimate peak level will be.

The CLPOA is a member of the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations

Here is a link to their recently published Strategic Plan..

Every Year Cathy Burgess runs an Ice-Out prediction contest for some kind of prize. I don’t know what it is, or if it’s worth the effort, because I’ve never won. However, if you have a ouija board or a 6th sense foretelling capability, or just want to join the fun, you might want to enter.

Entries must be in by 13 March. You can email her at cathyaburgess@gmail.com for details.

It is important that Chandos maintains and supports the research activity and interest in our lake that we are currently fortunate to be the beneficiary of.  After a while such activity can be somewhat self-perpetuating in that there becomes a base level of historical data and analysis that could attract and support further research by other scientists.  Having scientists interested in our lake can alert us to potential problems before they become actualities.  Also, if a serious problem ever did occur here, then there would be a cadre of informed scientists that we could hopefully call on for help. 

Continue reading “Student bursaries/scholarships?”

​Now is the time for all good folk to come to the aid of the party…”

It is with some reticence that I write this post.  There are lots of people who are quick to offer their opinion about what needs to be done or what direction should be taken, but who, for their own reasons, are unable to roll up their sleeves and pitch themselves in.  Methinks I am one of those.

Continue reading “Now is the time for all good folk…”

Feb 20, 2021

Lake Capacity Studies attempt to estimate how much “human load” a lake can be saddled with before its trophic status declines. The CLPOA had a lake capacity study done in 2008/09. See the 2009 MIchalski Report. A questionnaire was sent out (2004) to which about 400 cottagers replied. On page 87 is a table summarizing the responses to how much a cottage is used, in terms of “person-nights” per year.

Continue reading “Lake Capacity Study Update?”