Lake Ontario regulators say they’re still releasing record levels of water down the St. Lawrence River for this time of year, even though they’ve dialed back on the releases from the Moses-Saunders Dam. They also say they’re still releasing far more water than the controversial Plan 2014 calls for.
The International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board throttled back the water releases from a record high of more than 367,000 cubic feet per second to just below 350,000 cfs. They held the outflow at the higher level for ten weeks, which is the most water they’ve ever sent down the St. Lawrence. The board says today that flow into Ontario from Lake Erie has dropped, and even with easing back they believe Lake Ontario will continue to drop from its record high level which caused widespread flooding in the spring.
The board says even the lower release level is a record for summer. They said they had to cut back because strong currents from the dam were starting to become a hazard to ships navigating the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Lake Ontario currently stands at 247 feet, nine inches…well down from the record 249 feet in May but still nearly two feet above average for this time of year.