By Chad Ingram

Published Aug. 9 2016

Parks Canada is accelerating the drawdown on Trent Severn Waterway feeder lakes in Haliburton County as dry conditions continue this summer.

Water levels on some reservoir and flow-through lakes in the Gull and Burnt River watersheds will drop by as much as 30 centimetres by Aug. 16.
“As the extreme drought over the Trent Basin continues with no real relief in the forecast the drawdown of the reservoirs is accelerating” reads a statement from the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow. “The highest drawdowns are on the lakes that have furthest above average up to this date. Both Eels and Jack’s Lakes have seen major draws over the past week with multiple log pulls and significant increases in flows. It is expected that by the end of the forecast period most reservoirs will be below average levels for this date unless we receive significant rainfall.”

Rainfall in Haliburton County and throughout much of Ontario has been below average this year with amounts 100 millimetres below average in some places.
Residents on affected lakes will want to keep an eye on their boats docks water lines etc.
In Algonquin Highlands Boshkung and Maple lakes in particular have a tendency to be adversely affected by low waters boats sometimes getting beached.

Numerous lakes in Haliburton County are part of the system that feeds water into the Trent Severn Canal which stretches 386 kilometres from Lake Ontario near Trenton to Port Severn on Lake Huron.
Water level management updates can be found on the Parks Canada website at http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/on/trentsevern/plan/point-gestion-eau-water-management-updates.aspx