What is the real story on Great Lakes?
 

I have read a few stories on the Great Lakes water levels, from dredging in Detroit area, to just a trend of up and down water levels. Lake Charlevoix dropped about 10 inches in ten days this fall. Thought it would be interesting to hear all the thoughts of this from the boaters.

strong winds blow the water out of the lakes,,not lake mi tho..we have deep cold waters..

:confused:good question! I had the float my hydro hoist into the middle of the river just to take my boat off this past weekend, we are down over 2' from spring time

Water levels are down. IMO they need to limit the water that flows out of the Great Lakes system and into the St. Lawrence Seaway. Some type of barrier to slow the draining. There is a lot of good info on the web if you want to research this problem.

Fixx, Lakes Michigan and Huron are technically one body of water since they are openly connected and at the same level. Also Chicago diverts a lot of water and a lot of water flows into the Mississippi River. All 3 upper Great Lakes are deeper and the problem not as noticeable except in some harbors.

I can't speak for the rest of the lakes, but for ours and the St Lawrence sea-way the water level was dropped this year for contruction in Canada, along with maintenance down river. The water level has been a touchy subject in this area for years. Boaters want the water, land owners that are just there for the view do not. Ultimately all water from the the great lakes exits via the St Lawrence, but I would assume other lakes must have a level control system in place?

Keep in mind after a wet spring in 2011, this country has basically been in a drought ever since. We had limited snow pack melt, if any. And lack of rain all year.

I can tell you lake Ontario has dropped a good 10 inches in the past few weeks, making it almost 2 feet lower then the spring in the Toronto area. If you want to know how I found this out, I hit bottom trying to get the 60 carver I work on out of the marina to bring it to another marina for haulout. Unfortunately, I am still not sure how I am going to get the boat out of the marina for winter.

I was at the Hot Hole over in Monroe (Erie) and it was a solid foot or so lower then I've ever seen it.

-Rob

I have lived here all my life, just very odd. Put the boat in in September, yes the water was down a little, a couple weeks later the dock is setting way out of the water, went to get in boat, go to step up, instead I stepped down into the boat. Never have seen it change so much in that short of time.

There is a lock set keeping Superior at a higher level. Michigan & Huron are one body of water and some water is drained at south Lake Michigan but mainly it is through the St. Clair River. Some say that the St. Clair River has become deeper and is flowing more water than in the past. There has been talk of installing underwater barriers to limit flow. Wouldn't that worsen the problem in the lower lake system though? There are no other controls that I am aware of. Water flows freely from Huron/Michigan through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River and Lake Erie to Niagara falls where a tremendous amount of water drops into the lower level of Lake Ontario. Perhaps water flow over the falls could be limited by installing barriers. I'm not sure if there are any locks between the east end of Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. Limiting Chicago's diversion of water and the amount of water that flows into the Mississippi River could help. I didn't know that the Seaway was also low. That creates a problem since a shipping channel of about 40' deep must be maintained through the entire system.

Lake Michigan is way down. It is near or at all time record lows.