Corps Of Engineers Hopes To Improve Skiatook Lake Levels

The Army Corps of Engineers said Skiatook Lake is currently 16 feet below normal. They're hoping more rain will help the lake level.

The Corps' Drought Management Committee meets Friday to try and figure how to improve levels at the lake. Public input is welcome, but the meeting will have limited space.

The Army Corps of Engineers said even with the recent rainfall the lake levels at Skiatook Lake really haven't improved. In fact, we haven't seen normal lake levels here since 2010.

“It's only 56 percent to the normal level,” Sara Goodeyon with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. “We do want to make sure that we are managing the lake best in the best possible way, the most responsible way that we can, to conserve the water that we have out there.”

Even rainfall won't completely solve the problem, and that's why officials are meeting at the Skiatook Community Center on Friday morning. They point out the lake was constructed to help with water quality.

“The EPA has regulation that we have to have a certain water flow at the Sperry gage in Sperry, Oklahoma. So releases are made from Skiatook to maintain that EPA mandated requirement for those flows there,” Goodeyon said.

Sperry isn't the only place draining the resources; seven other entities across Oklahoma also use water from Skiatook Lake.

Many people are expecting officials to give answers at Friday's meeting, but that won't happen.

“This is actually just a committee meeting. It's a routine committee meeting that we called. It somehow got communicated that it was public,” Goodeyon said. “It's not that we are turning away the public from the meeting, it's just a regular committee meeting.”

You don't have to attend to the meeting to make a difference.

“The most important thing that people can do is try and conserve water,” Goodeyon said.

Friday's meeting is really a brainstorming session. They hope stakeholders can come up with great ideas on how to improve lake levels, although it's not closed to the public there is limited space.