The water level at Winchester Lake will decrease in the future

The Winchester Lake Dam recently underwent some modifications that will result in lower lake levels in the future. For safety reasons, the dividers at the overflow were removed. These demolition walls were designed to capture spring runoff and keep the lake’s water level approximately 3 feet above the spillway.

If unusually high spring flows occurred and overtopped this demolition wall, it was expected to fail, significantly increasing the amount of water that could flow through the spillway and protecting the integrity of the dam. The concern was that if this breakaway wall rose above the height and failed (as designed), a surge of water would rush into the ravine below, potentially flooding some of the streets. After the partition is removed, this is no longer a problem.

However, we will not be able to capture spring runoff, which will result in lake levels approximately 3 feet lower than in the past. Lower lake levels may result in some of the docks being less beneficial, but we expect the impact on the fishery to be minimal.

There are plans to upgrade the spillway and dam in the future. We hope that these upgrades will be carried out within the next five years and we will then be able to maintain the lake at the level we have had in the past.