Much of our area is finally coming out of the drought conditions we’ve seen over the past few months, but bodies of water are still seeing below average water levels.
The rain we’ve had recently has been beneficial for plants, but it has not made much of a difference when it comes to bringing water levels back to normal in bodies of water across our area.
“At Quemahoning, which is our biggest one, it holds 12 billion gallons. The spillway is 1627 feet, and we were down to as low as 1620 and a half feet. So, we were down around 6 feet, easily 6 and a half feet,” said James Greco, Chair of Cambria Somerset Authority.
Officials say that while all rain is beneficial, in order to raise water levels, you need a steady and consistent rainfall pattern which we haven’t seen much of recently.
“The thing is the precipitation is very sporadic. We have a storm like we had last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Then we don’t get much rain for a month,”
While officials say there are no concerns when it comes to not having enough water in the dam for people to use and drink, lower water levels do impact those who boat and fish on the water.
“I have buddies with boats, and they can’t launch right now. I can get out here with a kayak and they ask me how I do it and I just build my own launch. That’s how you have to do it. It definitely affects people from enjoying the lake,”
Platt says that even though this is the lowest he has seen the water levels in years, you can still get out on and enjoy the water, but now it may just take a little extra effort to do so.
“If you want to get out, you have to get muddy to catch some fish and that’s what I’m about,”