Mayfield, NY and Watertown, NY – The river regulating reservoirs operated by the Hudson River – Black River Regulating District have been, and are prepared to, receive runoff produced by recent rainfall and melting snow consistent with our mission to regulate the flow of the Hudson River and Black River for the purposes of flood protection and flow augmentation.
Precipitation received and forecast during the next several days, when combined with melting snow, is producing expected increases in reservoir elevations. In response to such increases, the Regulating District will be increasing the release at Stillwater later this afternoon from 600 cfs to 1000 cfs. The Beaver River Flow at Croghan will increase from approximately 1800 cfs to 2200 cfs. Similarly, the Regulating District will increase the release at Indian Lake from 400 cfs to over 750 cfs. Additional releases from the Regulating District’s Conklingville Dam will commence early next week as outlined under the Offer of Settlement.
Winter-time drawdown of the state’s river regulating reservoirs has occurred on schedule and as planned. The Great Sacandaga Lake was lowered according to the Upper Hudson/Sacandaga River Offer of Settlement and reached a minimum elevation of 749.07 feet on March 5, consistent with the Offer of Settlement elevation target curve. The Stillwater Reservoir was lowered to an elevation of 1665.50 feet by March 5, consistent with its operating plan.