November 29, 2024

Summit Lake water usage is a ‘Waterworks and DNR decision’

By REGINA SMITH

Flora next to the Summit Lake dam begins to die off as the cold weather season approaches. The lake was built and completed in 1894 and served as one of Creston’s water supplies for more than 100 years. It was privately owned by a group known as the Municipal Taxpayers Water Company until the city of Creston purchased it for $185,000 in the mid-1930s. In February 1935, the dam at Summit Lake was raised by the city of Creston and the spillway raised 3 feet, 4 inches to almost double the capacity of the reservoir. The renovation lasted until the floods of 2008 when it deteriorated to the point of repair. (CNA photo)

Is it wise to allow MidAmerican and Blattner Energy to pump up to 100,000 gallons of water a day from Summit Lake in the midst of a drought?

That was the question posed by concerned citizen Adam Randall to the Creston News Advertiser earlier this week.

Contractors for Blattner Energy and MidAmerican Energy are using the water pumped from the lake to help keep the dust under control on the gravel roads where they bring in materials for the wind turbine project in Union County. Per the Union County wind turbine ordinance, the company is required to control the dust.

Randall was concerned that the level of the lake would be lowered to the point where the coming cold temperatures would freeze too much of the lake and kill the fish.

“They’re going to ruin the lake and it’s for an unnecessary cause,” Randall said.

Randall also expressed his unease that there is no oversight to keep Creston Waterworks from selling the water without regard for the environment and that the local Department of Natural Resources officers were not consulted prior to the agreement.

“With not even wanting to consult with local DNR officials it seems that there was no concern for the lake from Creston Waterworks,” Randall said. “I understand that they own it, but it’s almost like an abuse of power ... because nobody can control what they do.”

Steve Guthrie, Waterworks general manager, said the lake is being monitored twice a week. He expects the level of the lake to drop no more than 2 to 3 inches — or less if it rains —across the entire run of the agreement, which expires in December.

“We’re watching it, we have no intention of doing any harm to Summit Lake,” Guthrie said.

He said he does not know if he will renew the agreement after it expires.

“I don’t know if I’ll do it again, but the one time deal was OK,” Guthrie said.

Summit Lake is 250 acres in size with a maximum depth of 10.8 feet. At 325,000 gallons per acre/foot, that means the top 12 inches of Summit Lake contains 81 million gallons of water.

“They physically don’t have the ability to drain that lake,” Guthrie said.

All of the waterworks’ assets are titled in the City of Creston’s name, but Creston Waterworks has sole ownership of the water rights for Summit Lake by ordinance. The lake was originally built as a water source for Creston but is not being used for that as there is currently no way for the city to pump the water to its treatment facility.

Guthrie went on to say that no local tax dollars have been spent on Summit Lake as a Federal Emergency Management Association grant was used when the dam was repaired and the shoreline was riprapped, or reinforced with stone, a few years ago.

Local DNR officers Jason Hyde and Corey Carlton would not give opinions on this use of the lake.

Hyde cited the fact that the lake is owned by the city. He is employed by the state DNR.

Carlton said he had checked to make sure the process was done legally.

“When I looked into it ... I ran it up our chain, my understanding was they did everything, they got the permits,” Carlton said.

Wildlife management biologist for the DNR Chad Paup said he would not comment on whether it was a good idea to pump water from the lake during a drought, but he has personally seen water coming over the spillway from Summit Lake in the last 10 days.

“I saw overflow going over and that’s in a drought when everything else is pretty darn low,” Paup said. “When it’s real windy, the white caps will go over the top of that dam. ... If there’s water going over the dam, then that means we’ve got plenty of water and it’s not like it’s three or four foot low.”

The agreement with Blattner Energy pays Waterworks around $1,000 per month for the untreated water.

“We saw a chance to try and get extra revenue to supplement what we’ve got coming in and didn’t see any harm to the lake so we proceeded,” Guthrie said.

Creston Mayor Gabe Carroll said he has been contacted about the situation, but it falls under the jurisdiction of the water board.

“It’s kind of outside of my realm of both control and knowledge since it goes through the water board,” Carroll said. “From what he (Guthrie) told me, the DNR had lifted the drought designation and that lake ... could support that level of water usage.”

Carroll said he had also spoken to Randall about the issue.

“I have been contacted by a couple of people who were concerned about the water level ... being too low to support healthy fish life,” Carroll said. “We’ve talked to Steve (Guthrie); we’ve talked to the people that are concerned. We’re trying to point them in the right direction, make sure that they’re taking the appropriate input and making the right decisions, but ultimately it’s a waterworks and a DNR decision more than it is a city thing.”