CEWF has been in contact with TSW water managers and we are monitoring the changing water levels throughout the reservoir area.
As of a week ago the reservoirs were filling nicely as the limited snowpack melted. TSW was managing levels to keep some flood storage, and to avoid flooding with ice still on the lakes. But recently conditions have changed very quickly. Over the last 5 days parts of Haliburton have received up to 80 mm of rain. Now the immediate forecast is for a major storm system and another 20 to 50 mm over the reservoir areas and temperatures as high as 10 degrees on Thursday.
TSW has been actively managing levels by lowering some reservoirs and passing high flows down both the Burnt River and the Gull River through Minden. The same is true for the Mississagua system in the south. The intent is to minimize flooding especially with ice still in place on the lakes, and to keep River flows within the banks. Logs have been removed in some upstream reservoirs to pass water and create storage capacity in anticipation of the coming rainfall. There is storage available in some of the larger reservoirs but the forecast rainfall amounts could push the system near its limits.
The best source of information is to monitor the water level graphs from TSW as well as the watershed information posted by MNRF and the municipalities.