The Friday Flyer • January 27, 2017

CANYON LAKE’S NEWSPAPER • JANUARY 27, 2017
Dignitaries to honor Community Award winners tomorrow Pg. 3
Canyon Lake Middle School Cheer making the grade Pg. A4
John Anderson Concert at Lodge is one week away Pg. 11
Storms rolls through Canyon Lake, leaves behind damage, dam spills and flooding
BY DONNA RITCHIE
EDITOR, THE FRIDAY FLYER
Canyon Lake has seen its fair share of rain this past week. With the heavy rains came high winds, floods, water damage, road closures, and at least for one resident, a landslide. According to Canyon Lake Weatherman Pat Elliano, Canyon Lake received 4.11 inches of rain from January 18 to January 24. Wind gusts measured 20 MPH.
Storms bring inconveniences and messy cleanups for some residents. Last week’s storms caused the North Causeway to close several times, cutting off residents who live on the north side from the rest of the community. “It’s a long drive to the Towne Center and the Lodge when you can’t access the North Causeway and are rerouted out the North Gate,” says one resident who lives on Longhorn Dr.
One resident who decided to ignore the guards and barriers at the North Causeway became stuck, leaving the vehicle stranded on the Causeway for hours. After Sunday’s storm, the Main Causeway was flooded and shut down for a short period of time.
Many of the backyards and decks of
the lake front homes flooded. Jenny and Jon Teperson’s bedroom flooded with two inches of water and part of Holly Swift’s retaining wall, fence and hill slid into the street below.
Some residents took advantage of the rain, like Destiny Peterson who was seen kayaking down Canyon Lake Dr. North.
Once the rains parted, the rainbow chasers took to the streets to photograph the multiple rainbows, including an unusual double rainbow, that appeared in the skies over Canyon Lake last week.
For the first time in many years water flowed over the Canyon Lake Dam last week. With water also pouring out at the base of the dam, some residents were under the impression that EVMWD opened the “floodgate.” While some dams do have floodgates, Canyon Lake isn’t one of them.
The water flushing out of the base of the dam was coming from two 48 inch gate valves, not a floodgate. The dam valves are not operated with the intent to regulate the reservoir level, it’s used as a function of the maintenance program.
One of the routine maintenance programs at the Canyon Lake Water Treatment Plant (CLWTP) involves
flushing the two valves. The work is typically conducted to move stagnant water and debris from the base of the dam and to ensure the performance of the hydraulic system.
With the recent storms, the water levels at the dam increased to spill level and provided an opportunity for Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District (EVMWD) to perform a routine maintenance that involves flushing the two 48 inch gate valves. The water released is captured in the overflow pond on the other side of the dam. EVMWD predicts that flushing periodically from the two valves on the dam will increase the treatability of the water in Canyon Lake since the CLWTP intake is directly adjacent to the dam.
The increase spill level also provided an opportunity for EVMWD to conduct some water quality analysis. Last week EVMWD Operators conducted preliminary sampling at multiple points on the lake and downstream of the dam. The valves were flushed on January 19 and January 20. After the valves were flushed, EVMWD conducted a follow- up sampling on Canyon Lake from the same locations the preliminary sampling
was taken from.
EVMWD hopes the data collected
will provide a better understanding of the effects that flushing has on the lake. EVMWD says they are working to come up with a water quality monitoring plan that will provide information about water quality in the lake and downstream of the dam both before and after flushing.
The recent storms are a reminder to residents to be prepared for future storms. Both the City and the POA has systems in place to notify residents when the Causeways are closed. Only those residents who sign up for this service will be notified.
The City of Canyon Lake has an emergency notification system called CodeRED, which will alert each resident by phone or e-mail in the event of an emergency.
The ultra high-speed telephone com- munication service allows the City to telephone all or targeted areas in case of an emergency, such as drinking water contamination, utility outage, evacuation notice, missing person, road closures,
CONTINUED PAGE A3
Heavy rains caused Canyon Lake Dam to overflow for the first time in many years. With Canyon Lake at spill level, EVMWD seized the opportunity to flush the dam valves.
PHOTO BY TIM BOMAN