Crawling Valley Water Level?

[Waxy]

I flew over it yesterday and it looked like it was WAY down, anyone been out there lately?

If it's as low as it looked, that really suprises me. Is that normal procedure? Why would they let so much water out of it? That has to affect the fish populations in there in and their wintering success.

Waxy

Crawling Valley was built to serve the needs of the irrigation district, not anglers. Irrigation needs come first. All southern reservoir are subject to severe level fluctuations depending on the needs of the irrigators. Fishing in these reservoirs is just a bonus, not their primary function.

[WayneChristie]

I checked out Rolling Hills Reservoir on the weekend, its down a good 7 or 8 feet Id say, and still dropping. Just the normal winter thing. Good thing is the fish wont have so many places to hide Kind of weird fishing from places Ive hooked fish earlier in the year!

[Jims71duster]

the travers res and the little bow res dams are being upgraded this winter and required the water level to be drastically dropped to allow the work to be completed. crwlingvally is downstrem from these (unless its on the red deer water system) so maybe it was affected by this. It did seem to affect badger as well

[Waxy]

Originally Posted by Jims71duster

the travers res and the little bow res dams are being upgraded this winter and required the water level to be drastically dropped to allow the work to be completed. crwlingvally is downstrem from these (unless its on the red deer water system) so maybe it was affected by this. It did seem to affect badger as well

That might be it.

I'm aware the CV is regulated by the EID and is primarily for irrigation water storage, but it's November, there isn't a whole lot of irrigation going on, and we had a pretty wet fall, so I was surprised at how low the water level was, I'd never seen it that low before.

I'm not sure if anyone else has been out there, but I was really surprised, I barely recognized it. I'd venture to say a good third of the lake's surface area is gone, especially along the north end and the east side. Judging by the now emergent islands, I'd guess the water level is down at least 7-8', maybe 10. Has anyone been out there to provide a more accurate estimate?

It'll be interesting to see what impact that has on the fishery. I realize that the fishery is maybe not the primary concern, but you'd think it would be considered. It's a very popular lake, and a lot of hard work and money has been put into improving the fishery and the facilities there, including some pretty large investments by the EID itself on the campground.

Waxy

[Freedom55]

It might have something to do with increased demand for the water downstream of Calgary and a decrease in supply upstream. Summers are typically drier the last number of years so the demands on the irrigation system had to have increased. With smaller snow packs year after year, the rivers on the eastern slopes would tend to produce less water. Check out the drop in water levels in the Bow or Oldman. Dave