Hello,
As many know, the valve to lower the lake was opened in mid-October. Although it may not seem like it, the valve has been open since then.
Included in opening the valve earlier, we were to raise additional baffles to create a lower winter pool. That has been done. If the lake reaches winter pool, the lake will have dropped approximately 5 feet from normal(summer) pool. This is 1 foot lower than what winter pool is normally set at.
Raising the baffles does not increase the speed in which the lake lowers. When we open the valve, it is opened up 100%. The valve is taking in all the water it can. We can not make the lake lower faster than it currently does.
If we do not receive any rain, or water coming in from our watersheds, winter pool is achieved in about 10-14 days. If we get heavy rain during that time, the lake will fill back up. The lower process then starts back over. Unfortunately, we have been getting rain about every 4 days over the past 6 weeks.