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Your KAPOA Board thought you might be interested in this notice about OPG river testing below the Bark Lake dam during the week of November 5, 2012.
If you have any items left or stored on or near the river shoreline, you may wish to secure them prior to the event. Lake properties should not notice nearly the same magnitude of effects, so this advisory is of primary concern to river inhabitants.
KAPOA thanks Ontario Power Generation for communicating these plans in advance and for the phone discussion to get a more complete understanding of the testing.
Residents reminded to “Stay Clear, Stay Safe” as Study at Bark Lake Dam May Impact Water Levels Temporarily
Renfrew – Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is advising that water levels may rise temporarily from Bark Lake to Kamaniskeg Lake as staff measure the flow of the river during the week of November 5, 2012.The study will verify existing data which OPG uses for managing flows and levels on the Madawaska River.
The river flow during this study period will range from two to 250 cubic meters per second (m3/s) over a two day period. The flow from Bark Lake typically peaks during the spring at 120 m3/s. The level in the river is expected to rise more than three meters during the two day period of the study. The last time that the flow out of Bark Lake was above 250 m3/s was in May 1983. Residents and recreational users may also see increased velocities and should exercise extra caution when around the water.
Visit www.opg.com/watersafety to view OPG water safety education materials and public service announcements.
Additional Information
The levels in Kamaniskeg are expected to go up a bit. The actual amount is not known but it should not be a lot, probably a few centimetres. The thing to watch out for is the river between Bark and Kamaniskeg: it will be a very dangerous torrent, nearly 10 times larger than during whitewater releases. It’s important to stay away from the river during the releases.
This is an unscheduled release and is the result of recent rains. Bark Lake is supposed to drop 5 cm/day and even with recent releases of 26 m3/sec (as high as during whitewater release) OPG has not been able to draw down Bark Lake enough. These releases have also raised the levels significantly in Kamaniskeg, well above where OPG wants it to be during the winter, as the Palmer dam has been dumping 20 m3/sec. OPG has decided to take advantage of this and reduce Bark with massive, spring-like releases, and calibrate that river section at the same time.
Roelf Beukens, KAPOA Water Levels and Flows
