LITTLE ROCK — Boaters using Lake Maumelle need to be extra cautious while motoring around on the lake, which is 5 feet lower than usual for this time of year.
For the first time in more than a decade, Central Arkansas Water intentionally lowered water levels at Lake Maumelle to give construction crews enough dry space to work on its earthen dam. The utility is spending $338,248 to repair and replace a 425-foot section of the 2,300-foot long structure a year after noticing cracks on the dam’s exterior.
Other sections of the nearly 55-year-old dam’s exterior have undergone similar repairs in the past. While it’s considered a major construction project, the “slumping of earth” isn’t a source of major concern, utility officials said Monday.
“It’s not unlike where you see steep embankments after a heavy rain. It looks like just a portion of it slips down,” said Graham Rich, the utility’s chief executive officer. “It’s not anything that is of concern from a structural stability standpoint but obviously you want to take care of it.”
Core samples from the dam in the past year show no problems with its clay core, Rich said.
Water levels near the dam, on the lake’s eastern edge, range from 40 to 45 feet deep.The lake itself has an average depth of 24.7 feet. Depths in some spots can reach 60 feet.
Although central Arkansas experienced record-breaking temperatures this summer, the intense heat hasn’t resulted in record water sales. To reduce water levels, the utility has drained several feet of water into the Big Maumelle River since July.
Gary Hum, the utility’s director of source and treatment, said the crews might drain an extra foot at the most to accommodate workers.
“It’s not going to have any effect on water users because even at this level, with zero rain, we would have a year’s supply of water in the lake,” Hum said. “The main people it’s going to affect is the boaters. They do need to be cautious out on the lake and look for submerged debris because the lake is lower than they’re used to seeing it.”
While the utility has not posted any warning signs about the reduced levels, Hum said that might happen in the next few weeks.
Water levels are still above the drought depths experienced in October 2006. The lake was 6.7 feet below the dam’s spillway that year. This week, lake levels measured 5.1 feet below the spillway.
Drier ground near the lake’s shore has forced Jolly Roger’s Marina to move boats deeper into the lake as well as add new poles to help the docks float up and down with changing water levels.
Courtney Todd, a park interpreter at Pinnacle Mountain State Park, also has noticed the drop in water levels while out on guided boat tours several nights this month.
“You don’t notice it as much,” at night, Todd said, “but that’s when you really have to keep an eye on the depth gauge because you can’t really see down into the water. You really have to rely a lot on experience and memory.”
Todd said he’s also avoided driving into parts of the lake he’s unfamiliar with and that he takes “it a little bit slower than during the days.”
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 08/17/2010