The U.S. Army Corps Engineers’ Philadelphia District released the 2012 recreation plan for the Francis E. Walter Dam in White Haven, Penn. The plan, developed in partnership with Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, lists dates and release amounts for whitewater and fisheries releases for 2012.
The plan for 2012 will be only slightly different from that of 2011. It includes 24 planned whitewater releases. Water is again being allocated to ensure early season (July-Aug. 19) white water recreational and fisheries releases (July-Sept. 19) while relying on seasonal precipitation and additional water accumulations to allow scheduling of releases for later in the season (late Aug.-Oct.).
Planned white water release dates are listed below. All other dates during the recreation season, through October 14th will have a fisheries augmentation release of at least 50 cubic feet per second (cfs) if sufficient water is available.
May: 12, 26, 27
June: 9, 10, 23, 24
July: 7, 8, 21, 22, 28, 29
August: 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19, 25*, 26*
September: 1*, 2*, 14**
* With the pool at 1365 on July 1, storage is sufficient to support the planned white water recreation releases through Aug. 19 and fisheries enhancement releases of up to 100 cfs through July 27 and up to 50 cfs through Sept. 9. After those dates additional water must be accumulated during the recreation season to make additional releases possible.
**The Sept. 14 release will only occur if sufficient stored water is available. This is the last added increment for the 2012 recreation plan. Fisheries releases through Oct. 14 will be assured before the Sept. 14 release will be considered. The Sept. 14 (Friday) release is planned for a maximum of 4000 cfs. Ramping down from that release rate will be accomplished over the following weekend (Sept. 15 and 16) depending on the amount of water available. Releases during this weekend are expected to be comparable to the release rate of other whitewater release weekends.
Total: 24 whitewater release dates planned, (19 of which initial water storage can accomplish) late season white water events and fisheries enhancement releases are dependent upon additional water storage becoming available during the year.