With the September 17th removal of the plates, a few of us
have recorded the water levels daily since. It was an eye
opener.

Previous calculations suggested that the 25 million gallons
a day increase in outflow with the plates removed would
only alter the lake level by approximately 1/8th of an inch
each day, or 3-4″ a month. Our new daily measurements
show, that with the plates removed, the lake drops half an
inch a day or 15″ a month! Over a Fall, Winter and early
Spring that would have the lake level be up to 7′ lower no
matter what the major weather events!
This average lower level is similar to what the lake naturally
was before the installation of the weir and would also help
the declining Sockeye populations of Sproat Lake by
reducing the big variations in lake levels between
October/November and December/January, where Redds
are often dewatered.