Water Level and Carlson Culvert info - Pre 2022

PRECIPITATION CHART 2021 - Government Chart

PRECIPITATION CHART 2021

2021 Precipitation through Oct 27th....

2021 rainfall to date is 21.13 inches vs 30.06 inches in 2020. This is a big reason our water level is lower this year than last year.

Rainfall:  National Centers for Environmental Information website (NOAA), Hayward Municipal Airport, WI

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datasets/GHCND/stations/GHCND:USW00094973/detail

CARLSON ROAD CULVERT

CARLSON ROAD CULVERT Past Info

During the Feb. sub-zero weather (-25, -35) Jim Kron was curious to see if the water leaving the lake froze over and possibly stopped flowing altogether.  As the two photos of Carlson Rd. illustrate, water is open there and flowing out at a slow rate. Same at NN culverts. He did not take a reading at Hwy. B bridge but judging from visuals it appeared the lake level is most likely a bit lower than the last reading in Dec.  With thawing temps now, readings from the staff gauge will begin soon.

Wisconsin Water Week Mar 8-12, 2021

Final 2020 Water Level Readings

The lake level reading of 1,345.62 ft. above sea level taken on 12/21/2020 will be the last of the season and allows us to compute the averages for the last 3 years.

2020 season average of 1,345.81 ft. which is:

4.68" inches lower than 2019 (1,346.20 ft.)    

1.20" inches lower than 2018 (1,345.91 ft.)

2020 Chart Data Collected From:

 

Rainfall:  National Centers for Environmental Information website (NOAA), Hayward Municipal Airport, WI

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datasets/GHCND/stations/GHCND:USW00094973/detail

 

2019 and 2020 blue/yellow dots:  manual readings collected by Jim Kron (primarily weekly over the summer months)  See additional comments above.

 

HOBO Water Level data logger is ideal for recording water levels and temperatures in shallow wells, streams, lakes and freshwater wetlands.  The HOBO logger used by the RLPOA reports the water level of the lake.  Please note the HOBO data is reported daily as the average of all readings taken (it takes a lake level reading every 10 min).   Unusual readings have been removed from the data so some days appear missing. HOBO has now been removed for the season - last date of HOBO data is 10/9/2020.

 

 

Additional Fun Facts from Jim Kron:

Photos from Hwy. NN showing 3 new 48" poly culverts installed by the Sawyer County Highway Dept. on Oct. 14-15. replacing the old steel type that were deteriorated. The replacements were set in place at the same elevation as the old culverts in Osprey Creek.

 

   

 

Carlson Road/Round Lake Dam Update

 

Carlson Road/Dam Culvert Project

The long-debated Carlson Road/Round Lake Dam replacement project was completed in early December of 2019. The original timber structure was removed and replaced with a precast concrete box culvert. A minimum flow was maintained through the construction zone during the approximately 1-week construction project. Final cleanup and seeding will be done this spring.

RLPOA had been told on several occasions that the new box culvert would be set approximately 6-inches below the existing timber structure. That measurement changed during the course of the debate to a court ordered elevation of 1343.60 (existing structure was at 1343.91, so 3.7 inches lower) or 0.5 feet below the bed of the channel, whichever is lower in elevation (Wisconsin DNR Permit IP-NO-2013-58-02643).

During construction, the contractor was directed to set the culvert at 0.5 feet below the bed of the channel which ended up being 1342.62. The new culvert was set 1.29 feet (15.5 inches) below the elevation of the original timber structure.

It is somewhat difficult to predict how this will ultimately affect the water level in Round and Little Round lakes. Given that the new culvert is much lower than the original structure, the opportunity for more outflow certainly exists. However, this is a rather complex hydraulic problem. Depending on the level of the lake, precipitation, and condition of the channel downstream of the culvert, the physical barrier that controls the water level may change throughout the year.

RLPOA is concerned about the fact the new culvert was installed significantly lower than previously discussed. We will be monitoring precipitation and lake level again this summer, as we have done for the past several years. That data will be available on the website.

Red outline is the original timber structure. Gray outline is the new concrete box culvert. The structures are drawn to scale at the correct elevations. The horizontal lines at the top represent the elevation of Carlson Road.

Carlson Road/Round Lake Dam Project

To satisfy those curious about construction progress we have created a photo log of the construction which anyone can access periodically for updates.

Construction Photo Log

Here is a video clip of the roadway section of the old dam being removed by the two excavators onsite. 

 

Legend
Precip - Daily Precipitation
Obs - Periodic Staff Gauge Observation
2018 - Periodic Staff Gauge Observations
HOBO - Electronic Gauge Reading (adjusted)

(Note precipitation data is only available 10 days to last HOBO reading)

 

Details

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The water surface elevation data shown above is based on direct staff gauge readings (Actual), electronic gage readings (Gauge) and precipitation records (Precip) from the Hayward airport recording station.

The left axis (elevation) is mean sea level (NAVD 88). Note that 0.1 feet equals 1.2 inches. The right axis (precipitation) is in inches.

The actual readings are taken periodically at the staff gauge on the County Highway B bridge. RLPOA used a surveyor to establish the benchmark elevation for this staff gauge.

The gauge readings are take every 5 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, excepting any downtime from technical/mechanical failures. The gauge is a pressure transducer that measures the “weight” of the water column above the sensor. More weight means higher water level; less weight means lower water level. The daily reading is obtained by average the 2 hours of readings between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. We used the actual readings and gauge readings to develop a calibration curve using linear regression—this lets us convert the gauge reading into an estimated true lake level. We are continuing to work with the vendor to better calibrate this gauge.

The precipitation data comes from NOAA records for the Hayward airport.

Osprey Creek Under County Highway NN

Summer 2019 CTH NN Culverts