Lake Ontario currently has lower water levels than the past two years, but officials say there is no need to worry.
Lake Ontario's levels are currently just below the historical average, and just about a foot lower than at this time last year. Bryce Carmichael, a hydraulic engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board, said that even though the International Joint Commission, which oversees the maintenance of Lake Ontario, there is not much man can do to combat the changes.
"There is no feasible way that manmade structures can control a body of water the size of Lake Ontario," Carmichael said. "It's just up to Mother Nature primarily. We have a little bit of influence at certain times of the season that can be used to benefit users, but the primary driver is really natural factors."
Despite the levels being lower than recent years, they are still above any record lows, Carmichael said that this is normal.
"This is not unprecedented," Carmichael said. "We would expect these levels to come about seasonally, periodically, definitely not every year. But as we move through the next decade or so, it could happen again. In a year we could have record highs or record lows."
In a recent attempt to help recreational boaters, water levels in Lake St. Lawrence, near Massena, were temporarily lowered from Oct. 7 to Oct. 10. Carmichael said that while the IJC cannot always prioritize recreational boaters, some interests can work together to create change.
"So, in the consideration of low water impacts, there is a operation that can be made that can increase water levels in specific parts of the system to help navigation, sometimes that does help recreational boating as well," Carmichael said. "But, they are not always step-by-step in tandem."
The temporary water level raising will have no significant impact on the surrounding environment. The IJC will continue to monitor water levels along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.
