Truesdale Lake  

South Salem, New York

March 1, 2020
by rob
Comments Off on Drawdown Report 13

Drawdown Report 13

January 25, 2020 marked the last day of drawdown target depth – where the lake’s level, in its fifth cycle, was three feet below the spillway ramp. The water began to rise after both 12” siphons had shut themselves down. The west siphon shut down early due to an enormous mass of fishing line and a fishing rod around tree limbs wedged against and inside the intake. See photos at the end of this report.
Continue reading

January 14, 2020
by rob
Comments Off on Drawdown Report 12

Drawdown Report 12

Today, with all siphons flowing, the lake level is 2.3 feet below the spillway ramp and descending. The lake froze completely on December 20th with ice up to three inches thick and 80% of the lake was melted by January 7th, allowing for a much cleaner fifth and final descent to target depth. If we are lucky, the lake will again freeze in January when the siphons shut down with lake level at three feet below the spillway. Continue reading

December 23, 2019
by rob
Comments Off on Drawdown: Report 11

Drawdown: Report 11

Summary: This four-week report involved so many environmental changes that I had to wait to complete it until a break in the weather – the dry spell we’re experiencing – now in its third day. We received so much rain this month that the lake level rose 38 inches after receiving five inches of rain and Snow/Ice Water Equivalent (SWE), even with all siphons flowing much of that time. Continue reading

November 26, 2019
by rob
Comments Off on Drawdown: Report 10

Drawdown: Report 10

The 6” siphon continued flowing during this last two week period and we requested that P&LC restart both 12″ siphons.
On Wednesday 11/20, a Lake Planning Group Meeting was held with John Bergstrom, Robert & Susan Brown, Rob Cummings, Sue Enos, Scot Evans, Lara Gorton, Stephen Macaluso, and Harold Ossher attending. Continue reading

November 13, 2019
by rob
Comments Off on Drawdown: Report 9

Drawdown: Report 9

Summary: Both 12″ siphons shut down: the west 12” on Tuesday night 11/5/19 and the east 12” on Wednesday night 11/6/19. The 6” siphon was the only one flowing most of this week and it was able maintain the lake level following 0.3″ rainfall with a 2 ½” lake level rise. Lake Gauge started at -3.0′ target depth and ended the week rising to -2.8′. Continue reading

November 6, 2019
by rob
Comments Off on Drawdown: Report 8

Drawdown: Report 8

Summary: Harold Ossher’s conclusion, following his evaluation of watershed research and flow data collected, was to use two 12” siphons plus the one prototype 6” siphon. This proved sufficient to stay ahead of this year’s wet October 8.2” rainfall total. (Average rainfall for October over the last three years is 7.7″ where OCT 2018 was 4.6” and OCT 2017 was 10.3″.) Continue reading

October 21, 2019
by rob
Comments Off on Drawdown: Report 6

Drawdown: Report 6

Rain from the strong nor’easter bombogenesis (at least 24 millibar drop within 24 hours) began at 2 pm Wednesday 10/16/19 and ended just after midnight where we received 3.34”of rain. On Thursday 10/17/19, we received a small amount of wrap-around moisture with an additional 0.04” or rain. (more…) Continue reading