DAILY GAZETTE
Schenectady, NY
January 12, 2004
Letters to the Editor
Change Sacandaga water level rules
The new operating rules that govern storage and discharge of water from Great Sacandaga Lake are seriously flawed and need to be changed.
Devised by 24 stakeholders, they are incorporated in the federal license issued in 2002 to the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District for operation of the lake. Before then, the district was solely responsible for decisions about releases of water. Now, the rules tell it what it can and cannot do.
Because of those rules, the lake, a storage reservoir, is currently 17 feet higher than normal, putting it within 18 inches of spilling over the dam. Sometime between now and mid-March, it has to be lowered about 20 feet to accommodate spring runoff. Otherwise, the flood toll to Albany, Troy, Rensselaer, Watervliet, and Green Island could total tens of millions of dollars.
By January, the lake is typically drawn down to the point where docks are sitting on dry land. But this year, they are afloat and clamped in ice. The high waters also are eroding the shoreline. As the level is dropped sharply over the next few weeks, hazards could develop. Air pockets under the ice could collapse under the weight of a snowmobile or ice fisherman. Winter sports and area businesses could suffer.
To understand this mess, ignore all the self-promoting hype you've heard about what a wonderful job the 24 stakeholders did in balancing competing interests. The reality is that these rules maximize the profits of downstream hydroelectric firms.
The turbines at hydroelectric stations are powered by flowing water, and they can spin only so fast. During the spring runoff, or in a year of excessive precipitation, the natural flow of the river is all that's needed to achieve maximum turbine velocity. When that happens, Great Sacandaga's water is held back. That's why the lake is so high today.
But in a dry year like 2002, when the rules went into effect, the situation was reversed. That August, the lake was drained way down to keep those turbines spinning. Many people had to haul out their boats weeks earlier than in the past.
To whom can you complain? Among the 24 stakeholders were the boards of supervisors of Fulton and Saratoga counties, the Great Sacandaga Lake Association, and the Great Sacandaga Lake Fisheries Federation. Ask them if they actually read the rules before they signed off on them. And demand that they act to change them.
PETER VanAVERY
Edinburg
TIMES UNION
Albany, NY
January 13, 2004
Lake level focus of spring concerns
Colonie-- Great Sacandaga officials say water is being released
By LEIGH HORNBECK, Staff writer
The level of the Great Sacandaga Lake is slowly sinking, but lakeside residents still worry the lake won't be able to handle the spring thaw.
Robert Foltan, chief engineer for the Hudson River Black River Regulating District, which manages the reservoir, said Monday the lake level was 768.4 feet above sea level. Historically, the lake has been considered full at 768 feet.
Foltan said opening valves at Conklingville Dam, in Saratoga County, is bringing down the lake by about a foot every four days.
"If Mother Nature cooperates, the trend will continue through the springtime," Foltan said.
The 42-square-mile reservoir was built in 1930 to prevent the Hudson River from flooding downriver towns. Residents pay for an annual permit fee that allows them to put docks in the water.
"It used to be, you swam in the lake and the water went out as the summer went on so it would be ready to fill up again," said Marilyn Sargent of Batchellerville. "(Now) if it starts to rain, Noah, where are you?"
Residents at a meeting of the regulating district at the Wolf Road Holiday Inn Turf said the agreement with hydroelectric power companies for the use of the water through the dam is to blame for high water in the lake.
The regulating district board voted to hire an independent auditing firm to review the permitting system and held a question-and-answer period after the meeting, both suggestions from residents.
The board also hired an executive director, former Adirondack Park Agency Chairman Richard Lefebvre. The job pays $80,000 a year. Lefebvre, 65, who was APA chairman for five years before retiring in 2002, said he would work to resolve the issues facing the district.
THE RECORDER
Amsterdam, NY
January 13, 2004
Lake's regulating district handling water level issue
By CRAIG CLARK
Recorder News Staff
ALBANY - Although officials say steps are being taken to lower the water level, at some 16 feet above the historic average for this period, the high water in the Great Sacandaga Lake still has hold of people's attention and their docks.
Hudson River-Black River Regulating District Chief Engineer Robert S. Foltan said the lake is now being lowered at a rate of about a foot every four days and he predicts, barring the occurrence of a sudden thaw, the lake will be at a level come mid-March sufficient to handle the spring runoff.
As of Monday morning the Great Sacandaga measured at 768.45 feet above mean sea level; that's down some 9 inches from Friday's elevation.
At this point the regulating district has had no further meetings concerning emergency water releases since last month's report of a Dec. 16 meeting with some of the signatories of the agreement governing the management of the Great Sacandaga's waters, Foltan told a group of about 35 people who made it to the regulating district's meeting Monday.
At that Dec. 16 meeting, a selection of signatories, which included the state Department of Environmental Conservation, representatives from the hydro company Erie Blvd. and others, agreed that an increase in release be allowed at the Conklingville Dam in the town of Hadley, Foltan said.
Under the Offer of Settlement, the deal first reached in 2000 after nearly 10 years of negotiating between a wide variety of interveners, the releases of water from the Great Sacandaga are governed by two thresholds, the regulating district's chief engineer says.
One threshold, Foltan explained Monday, is the flow of the Sacandaga River downstream of Conklingville Dam.
At the current lake elevations, releases at Conklingville into the Sacandaga River are ordinarily capped at 4,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). At the Dec. 16 meeting, Foltan said, it was agreed that the threshold at Conklingville could be increased to 5,400 cfs - the maximum capacity of the turbines at the E.J. West Hydro Plant that sits at the Conklingville Dam. At this point the regulating district is not allowed to release more water than the power plant can handle, something that could be achieved through the use of the district's own water release valves.
Foltan said a release exceeding 5,400 cfs, which is a threshold identified in the Offer of Settlement, was discussed but deemed not necessary.
"That's one threshold we have to keep in mind when we're determining a release out of the Sacandaga Reservoir. The other is the natural flow of the Hudson River, resulting and combined flow, below the confluence," Foltan said.
For reservoir elevations such as the ones that have been experienced in the past few weeks, the flow of the Hudson River below the confluence is capped at 8,000 cfs.
Since Dec. 16, the regulating district has been allowed to release more water from Conklingville in relation to the Sacandaga River, Foltan said, but the district was still faced with the limitations in the Hudson and couldn't reach the 5,400 cfs mark at Conklingville.
Foltan said Monday, however, that the Hudson's natural flow has decreased substantially in the last few days and now the district should be able to reach the 5,400 cfs mark at the dam. In the past few days, that has been the case.
What some perceive as a lack of flexibility on the district's part to operate the reservoir has some people calling for a re-examination of the Offer of Settlement, the signing of which was heralded at the time as a great success for many lake users.
"It's flawed and it needs to be changed," Peter VanAvery, co-founder of the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee, said Monday. "In reality it is heavily biased towards the interests and the profits of the downstream hydroelectric firms."
Randy Gardinier, chairman of the Great Sacandaga Lake Fisheries Federation, which was a signatory to the agreement, defends the Offer of Settlement. He said the problem isn't with the settlement agreement but with the district, which has failed to follow the agreement during this high-water period.
Gardinier said the district does have the flexibility to operate the reservoir so as to minimize the adverse effect of extremely high water in seasons, such as this, that see usually high amounts of precipitation.
He pointed to clauses in the agreement that grant the district the right to perform emergency releases of water without consulting anyone. Those emergency releases could, if the district chooses, exceed the thresholds at Conklingville and the Hudson so long as property, human life or dam safety were compromised, he said. With the erosion occurring around the lake and the safety of snowmobilers questioned, many say human life and property is in danger.
Foltan said the clauses Gardinier points out are centered on the immediate area of the dam and the human life and property mentioned in the agreement must be around the dam.
Gardinier and others disagree, saying that was not their understanding of the agreement when the deal was signed.
According to Foltan, there are other stipulations that allow emergency releases in the expectation of immediate flooding around the Great Sacandaga Lake. The thresholds for those stipulations were not reached, however, he said.
During this last period of high water, many have criticized the district for not acting sooner and calling for the Dec. 16 meeting much earlier. Gardinier agrees that the district should have addressed the high water much earlier than it did and suggests perhaps the district is scapegoating the agreement, the signing of which, he said, the district fought from the beginning.
The high water has many lake users complaining of erosion, damage to docks and turbidity.
In response to the high water and the damage it has caused, both now and in May when the lake crested the top of the dam, the Batchellerville Bridge Action Committee Monday promised the creation of a damage registry which they say will be available on their website. Photos are also being solicited.
The organization hopes to put a dollar figure on the effects of the high water.