CHEAT LAKE UPDATE..............September
13, 2010.
The level of the water in Cheat Lake is down to a critical
level, in my opinion. It is now
at approximately 867.5 feet above sea level and digressing at
about 0.02 feet per day.
Less than 100 cubic feet per second of water is entering the
Lake from all sources, so power cannot be generated and the
current Lake level cannot be maintained unless we get rain soon. The last rain this past Saturday was only about 0.1 inches.
The current Lake level is below the range for the normal
summer pool height of 868 to 870 feet. There is not much
water coming into the Lake and so the outflow is at the absolute minimum
of 100 cubic feet per second (cfs) required by FERC.
If the inflow from Preston County is adequate, the minimum
outflow is normally 212 cfs. And, when
electrical power is being generated, each of the four generators uses up to
2000 cfs.
If you have floating boat docks, be sure to check them
periodically to ensure that the low Lake level does not
cause damage to the connections. Allegheny Energy is starting today to
remove the No-Wake Buoys and Day Use Boat Docks from the
Lake.
At the end of October, the Lake level will be lowered
substantially. During the first week of November, the
Lake level will be sufficiently low that a Lake Level Indicator can be installed
on the I-68 Bridge over the Lake. And, this will
provide a very short opportunity for dock maintenance while the Lake
level is down.
For more information and timely statistics on the Lake, please
see: