Lake Eufaula water woes may be gone

By Bryan Painter

Published: June 11, 2006

EUFAULA - Jason Cole, co-owner of Belle Starr Marine Sales and Service at Lake Eufaula, was sweating in a figurative sense last winter. That's when the water level was more than 6 feet below normal, and his boat repair business was seriously hurting.

He gave an example of the problem. Cole has a 50-foot trailer he uses to pick up boats for repairs. He measured one ramp at 200 feet, and usually 100 to 140 feet of that is under water. Earlier this year, only 40 feet was under water, and that doesn't pair up too well with a 50-foot trailer.

But lake levels have drawn closer to normal, said Ed Engelke, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The key word is "normal." Usually the normal for Lake Eufaula is 585 feet above sea level, according to the corps.

But from June 1 to July 15, the normal is seasonally adjusted to 587 feet to store water to release for interior least terns, an endangered bird species that nests along the river banks downstream from the lake, Engelke said.

So if you look at the normal for most of the year, the lake is down only about 2 feet right now.

'Plenty of work now'
Although those around the lake would like to see the lake levels continue to improve, many such as Cole are very happy.

In fact Cole is sweating again, but this time it's literally beads off the brow.

"It's like any other job when you're out of work," he said, "and we were out of work. But thank the Lord we have plenty of work now.

"We're playing catch-up. Yesterday we started at 8 in the morning and worked until 8 last night."

With triple-digit temperatures, sweating will be easy to come by, and that couples with the fact that although we've seen improvements, the state is still suffering in this drought.

Take a look back at the situation around Eufaula. The Oklahoma Mesonet site at Eufaula only received 18.03 inches of precipitation from September through May, said Gary McManus of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. The normal precipitation for that time period in that area is 36.46 inches.

But when spring rains came, hope followed.

Ed Parisotto, lead park ranger for the Lake Eufaula Corps of Engineers, has been working at Lake Eufaula since 1995. He said the recent Memorial Day weekend was one of the busiest he's witnessed.

Lake Eufaula is the largest body of water in Oklahoma.

At the Lake Eufaula Corps of Engineers parks, there are 463 camp sites in addition to 12 additional tent sites, which were full during Memorial Day weekend.

Why?
He said one possibility is that higher gasoline prices are "keeping people close to home."

Ann Davis, office manager of Eufaula Cove Marina, agrees.

The marina is their primary business, and selling boats is secondary. Both have been good.

She said she recently sold twelve 22-foot boats in an eight-day period at an average price of $23,500.

Her brother, Terry Burnett, owner of the Eufaula Cove Marina, has 20 new boat slips under construction, and 13 of those are preleased.

That's in addition to 370 boat slips already in operation.

"I think people are not taking trips, they are buying boats and staying close to home and doing the family thing," Davis said. "The wind was the only thing that kept us from having a record-breaking Memorial Day."

And has traffic remained good since Memorial Day?

"Absolutely," Parisotto said. "As far as recreation goes, I see an increase. We'd like to have higher water levels obviously, but so far it's been good."

Debbie Engle's family has a 15 foot by 48 foot houseboat at Eufaula Cove Marina and a 30-foot cruiser as well. And Engle has a lakeshore home along another portion of Lake Eufaula.

She said she watched during the winter at her home as the beach extended "way out there." But she says now it seems to be "in the normal range."

Looking ahead
Eufaula Mayor Dean Smith said he's heard good reports from various businesses.

And he's happy the bleak outlook of the winter has brightened as we head into summer.

But he's still cautious.

"It looks like through the tourist season, with the rainfall we've received and the water levels we have now, we'll be OK and have a safe environment," Smith said. "The concern is that come September and October we will be back to where we were -- several feet below normal."

Smith said long-range forecasts that he's seen are "indicating a dry fall season."

Karen Weldin is president of Save Our Water Inc., an organization that she said has a mission to preserve and protect Lake Eufaula's and all of Oklahoma's water resources.

Weldin is also a lakeshore homeowner at Lake Eufaula.

She said the organization is excited about the activity at the lake and wants to keep that going.

However, looking further into the summer, they are concerned with higher temperatures, evaporation, the possibility of little or no rain and water being drawn from the lake for hydroelectric power.

"We don't want to lose what we've gained," she said. "Let's preserve and conserve."

Cole, whose business includes the boat repairs, said for awhile during the winter "I was beginning to wonder if we'd have a season or not.

"Now it's a challenge to get all the work done and get the boats on the lake, but that's good," he said.

Write Bryan Painter: P.O. Box 25125, Oklahoma City 73125

Fax Bryan Painter: 475-3183

Call Bryan Painter: (405) 740-4179

E-mail me: bpainter@oklahoman.com