Heavy rains over the last few weeks have saturated the ground and are now having an impact on Lake Greenbelt, especially after about five inches of rain fell on the Howardwick area Sunday.
The deluge had Carroll Creek running fast and strong into the reservoir. It was still running Tuesday, and water was also coming down the Salt Fork Red River into the lake.
Greenbelt had reached a low of 7,064 acre-feet of water stored in the reservoir on April 25. After the general rains over the last month and Sunday’s downpour, the lake was holding 8,121 acre-feet as of Tuesday morning.
The lake level itself has risen about 2.25 feet in the last 45 days, according to Greenbelt Municipal & Industrial Water Authority. The lake depth Tuesday was 40.02 feet.
Greenbelt’s greatest depth was in June 1975 when it was 75.71 feet.
An acre-foot is the amount of water it takes to cover one acre of land one foot deep or 325,851 gallons.
The lake is still down significantly. A year ago, Greenbelt was holding more than 9,500 acre-feet, and even that was well below the level six years ago when it held 17,260 acre-feet.
Change can come quickly at Greenbelt, however. In April 2015, the lake was also at about 8000 acre-feet when a very wet May added about 5,750 acre-feet to the reservoir.
The area still has a chance of more rain this week, and it could well benefit Greenbelt if it falls in the right place.
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