Audubon group discusses water management
By Stu Merry, BHG News Service
It may be the dead of winter, but water levels of Lake Audubon remain fresh on the minds of cabin and landowners who live around the lake. It's also still fresh in the memory of local, county, state and federal officials. Members of the McLean County Lake Audubon Oversight Committee met Jan. 17. The group formed last May in the wake of potential flooding around Lake Audubon. A second meeting included Corps officials and cabin owners on the north side of the lake. Both meetings reviewed what transpired last summer. Future plans were also discussed as was flood control. Tim Temeyer, hydraulic engineer in the water control and quality department with the Corps office in Omaha, said the Corps is interested in knowing what impact high pool levels had on the area. This past summer, raising Lake Audubon to 1854 mean sea level was considered. If that had happened, hundreds of acres of farmland and numerous cabins around Lake Audubon would have been flooded. But as things played out, the lake was only raised to 1849.5 msl. The average pool level is 1845 msl in winter and 1847 msl in the summer. The higher level allows flows into the McClusky canal for irrigation purposes.
