The International Joint Commission says it will continue to release the maximum amount of water from Lake Ontario, because June was wetter than normal across most of the region and slowed down the effort to reduce the record-high lake levels.
The IJC says today the International Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Board has met and will continue the outflow from the Moses-Saunders dam at more than 367,000 cubic feet per second. That’s a record high for the sustained outflow and the most the agency says it can do without flooding Montreal. But at the same time, the inflow from the Niagara River and all other sources to Lake Ontario is estimated at more than 364,000 cfs, meaning they were only able to lower the lake by 3.5 inches for all of last month. That inflow is the second-highest ever recorded.
The IJC says now that summer weather is here, they expect the lake level to drop back from the dangerously high conditions that caused spring flooding.