Don’t fret whether there’ll be enough water flowing from Iola taps this winter for a hot, soothing bath.
If it doesn’t rain between now and then — some arrived in Iola Friday — John Redmond Dam and Reservoir and similar impoundments, Council Grove and Marion, have enough water to tide over those who draw from the Neosho River until the early months of 2014.
That’s an analysis made by the Kansas Water Office and given to Toby Ross, Iola water plant manager, and others this week. The Register received the same assessment.
Iola and others that use Neosho River water are members of Water Assurance District No. 3, which gives each rights to water released from the reservoirs to keep the river running in hot and dry times.
If no rain falls, Redmond storage would be pressed to meet downstream demands beyond the end of the year, said Katie Patterson-
Ingels, communications director for the Kansas Water Office.
In answer to queries from the Register, Patterson-Ingels had this to say in an e-mail:
In a scenario where there was minimal natural inflow to Redmond reservoir for multiple years, assurance storage would be fully used by the end of the year, she wrote.
“However, the assurance district has the ability through the operations agreement to use assurance storage from Marion and Council Grove reservoirs,” Patterson-Ingels said. “That storage could get the assurance members through most of next year.
“Beyond that, the assurance district could purchase reserve capacity storage from Marion and Council Grove reservoirs , which could meet their needs for several more years, again with no rain.”
Last year the Kansas Water Office looked at possibilities of Redmond getting enough inflow to refill, if it reached an elevation of 1,034.5 feet above sea level by Nov. 15. Conservation pool, when the reservoir is “full,” is 1,039.
“The probability of it refilling by March 1 (2013) was 70 percent and the probability of it refilling by June 1 (2013) was 90 percent,” Patterson-Ingels said.
Currently, the lake’s level is about 1,036 and dropping about .05 of a foot a day, or six-tenths of an inch; last year’s low point was 1,035.11. Then, the lake refilled in December.
Figures from 2011 are noteworthy because eastern Kansas suffered a similar drought then.
However, this year has been drier, with 17.56 inches of moisture through Friday morning in Iola. On Aug. 30, 2011, the total was 21.27 inches. For all of 2011, 33.30 inches fell, meaning fall rains added just over 11 inches to the total.
Also, Eugene Goff, Army Corps of Engineers operations manager at Redmond, noted a couple of external forces will work in the reservoir’s favor the remainder of the year.
First, because of a statewide drought disaster declaration by Gov. Sam Brownback, stage 2 water restrictions were instituted by the KWO.
