Dam!
This is how bad it is: the lake looked pretty full to us, compared to how we remembered it. But looking across the water at the dam, it was clear that it was still very low, a detail confirmed by my favorite lake-monitoring website: this poor little lake is at only 11.5% of capacity.
Lake Mckenzie, Texas
photographed 12.26.2019
PS. I know it’s weird to have any kind of a lake-monitoring website, let alone a favorite one.
Posted on January 4, 2020, in Photography and tagged 365 photo project, black and white photography, Lake Mckenzie, learning to see, Leica, melinda green harvey, monochrome, one day one image, photo a day, photography, postaday, road trip, take time to look, texas, thoughtful seeing, travel photography. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
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Not weird at all they have a lake monitoring website. A sign of the times. I believe it will become more and more and more important as time goes on.
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You are right. My friend Darryl explained the particular problem with this lake over on my Facebook post. Here’s what he had to say:
What is to blame is a lacerated upper watershed, where nearly every section of land that the Tule Draw runs through has a check dam on it, preventing runoff water from heavy rainfall periods from ever making it to Lake Mackenzie.
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Of course, the lake itself was created by a dam. I see that the lake’s website has a header that says that the lake is closed to motorboat and water skiing activity due to water level and safety factors. It then says pray for rain. And that seems to be the overarching issue.
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The signs around the lake say the same things, and I guess will they will continue to say that for the foresseable future.
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I do a lot of my photography around the Quabbin Reservoir watershed in central +/- Massachusetts. The state keeps tabs on the capacity level and we can check that. Fortunately it has never fallen to the low your lake has but a few years ago it was around 70% which is kind of a big deal since Boston and its surrounds get the majority of their water from this reservoir. You can see a comparison pair of shots here with the first being relatively low and having the beginning of a sand bar that is usually not visible when the water is where it should be. The second has a level much lower.
Is that white post supposed to be a depth indicator? I hope you have had or will soon receive some significant rainfall. At one time water was the cause of a lot of battles out there. As Michael mentions, those time may soon return.
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