Drought conditions may revisit PL

PRIEST RIVER — Drought conditions could revisit Priest River and Priest Lake again this summer.

“We are looking at extremely low levels for the Priest River this summer, absent a weather event. There is apparently no more runoff coming that will mitigate that,” Idaho Lakes Commission Chairman Ford Elsaesser said during the board’s quarterly business meeting on Wednesday.

Elsaesser, citing a U.S. Geological Survey gauge north of town, said discharges in the river where in the 700-cubic-feet-per-second range on Wednesday. Flows this time of year in 2015 were as low as 560 cfs, the lowest flow recorded on the river since record keeping began in 1923, Elsaesser said.

The Idaho Department of Water Resources approved $4.8 million in funding to heighten the Outlet Bay Dam on Priest Lake six inches, in addition to pay for dredging in the Thorofare at the north end of the lake and construct a new impervious breakwater.

The improvements to the dam gates are meant to provide more storage capability in years where drought conditions exist, but those and the other improvements are not slated to be constructed until 2021, according to Steve Klatt, Bonner County’s former Parks & Recreation director.

Klatt said a difference of a few inches can have a dramatic effect on Priest Lake, which is known for its shallow shoreline and flat beaches.

“A few inches of water at Priest Lake can have dynamic effects, up or down,” Klatt told the commission.

Commissioner Craig Hill asked if water could be held back now in order to counteract drought conditions. Klatt responded that it may be possible to do that.

Betty Gardner, who lives along the river, asked if that was already being done.

“Last week, the water on the river dropped several feet within 48 hours,” said Gardner, who added that such significant drops usually occur in July.

But Doug Jones, IDWR’s northern regional manager, said the dam isn’t being manipulated to hold back water in the lake at this time.

“We’re basically releasing only what’s flowing into the dam to begin with. It’s usually later,” said Jones.

Klatt said this year’s snowpack did not hang around for long.

“What startled people this year is, once again, how quickly the snowpack left,” Klatt said.

The breakwater, meanwhile, is coming into a bit sharper focus.

Klatt said that the breakwater will be a low-profile earthen structure armored with rock and partially vegetated.

“It will be a natural-looking breakwater,” said Klatt.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.