Forecast rain critically needed to raise lake levels ahead of summer

BUTLER COUNTY, Kan. (KWCH) - The rain in the forecast this week could play a major role in getting El Dorado Lake back on track. The lake currently is down about three feet from normal levels.

Ahead of summer, the ongoing drought is negatively impacting water levels. At El Dorado Lake, the receding shoreline exposes potential hazards. Randy Poinsett who boats on El Dorado Lake offers safety advice for fellow boaters who are planning to get out onto the water in coming weeks. He said boaters need to be on high alert.

“It’s about at least three [feet] down, so you’ve got to really boat slow,” Poinsett said. “There is a lot of stumps out that you never saw before when it was normal, so, you’ve just got to be pretty cautious.”

Also offering advice with the low water at El Dorado Lake is Shady Creek Sales and Marina Owner Mike Morgan.

“Stay out of the trees, you know, swing wide on all the points, which you do anyway,” he said. “The points are a little more visible because the lake is down. So, swing out a little wide on the points.”

Morgan said maps of El Dorado Lake are available and could help boaters.

“Show the water hazards, not all of them, but the majority of what we know, and we would be happy to give you that for free,” he said. “We give them to all the people that rent our pontoon boats so they have a more successful time running the pontoons without damaging the propellers.”

With rain the forecast, there’s hope enough will fall to help lake levels before Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial start to summer.

“It would help, it just makes boating a lot safer if [the lake level is] normal,” Poinsett said. “It just needs to come up. We just need quite a bit of rain to bring it up three [feet].”

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