CATO -- Within the past two months, folks at Cross Lake have dealt with extreme flooding--now they're having the opposite problem.
Water levels on Cross Lake have been falling for most of the past week. On Thursday, the water was so low, neighbors had to rush to get their boats away from the docks and out into deeper water.
"Using crews of 8-9 guys to try to get these boats out of the muck and out onto the drop off of the lake," said John Landis. Landis said he has vacationed on Cross lake for 27 years but has never seen the water level so low in the summer.
On Friday, the New York State Canal Corporation said gates at Wave Hydro, a private hydroelectric facility in Baldwinsville, are not closing due to technical issues and causing water levels in the lake to drop by a few inches a day.
In a statement, the Canal Corporation said "The company is unable to close their gates and has attempted to stem the outflow using temporary sheeting but these efforts have not been successful."
Marilyn Foucart wasn't able to move her pontoon boat to deeper water in time - so she thinks it will be stuck in the mud for the long haul.
"Last Sunday we went for a ride to Seneca Falls on the boat and that's probably the last time we're going to take the boat out this year unless we get a lot of rain," said Foucart.
Owners of some grounded boats say water levels would probably need to rise by at least a foot for them to even think about moving them.
"There's no way they can move these boats. And august being a fairly dry month generally speaking - we're wondering if we're going to recover the water levels in the lake to get these boats moved out by the end of the season," said Landis.
The Canal Corporation says the hydro plant in Baldwinsville is working to fix their gates but water levels between locks E-24 and E-25, Cross Lake and the Cayuga/ Seneca Canal will keep going down until they are closed.
Here is the full text of the NY State Canal Corporation statement:
While the water level of Cross Lake is lower than normal, this condition is not related to the Canal Corporation taking water out of the lake for Erie Canal levels or for any other Canal operations.
Gates downstream at the Baldwinsville Dam, which the Canal Corporation uses to control these levels upstream (including Cross Lake) have been closed since July 3.
The low levels actually are due to inoperable gates at the Wave Hydro hydroelectric facility at the Baldwinsville Dam. The company is unable to close their gates and has attempted to stem the outflow using temporary sheeting but these efforts have not been successful.
Wave Hydro has been in contact with the Canal Corporation on this issue, and is working with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to address the issue. Meanwhile, water levels continue to slightly decline.
The Canal Corporation will continue to monitor the situation closely.
There is also a warning to mariners about the low water levels. You can read that release here.
