Lacombe and Ponoka Counties will back an effort to get a grant to study water flow into Gull Lake.
Both county councils agreed last week to join the Summer Villages of Gull Lake and Parkland Beach in an Alberta Community Partnership Grant application. It is hoped $200,000 will be approved to undertake what is being called a regional master drainage feasibility study for Gull Lake. Ponoka County will act as managing partner.
"The purpose of the proposed study is to determine if, and to what extent, natural water flows into the north of Gull Lake have become impeded or blocked," says a report from Lacombe County manager Tim Timmons.
The results of the study will determine if steps should be taken to repair damage to water flows, re-diverting streams into their original stream beds or installing flood control measures.
Consultants would also investigate carp infestation in backed-up water bodies, above- and below-ground water flows and seek out historical records. Construction options and a cost analysis will also be part of the work, which will examine how any changes would affect agriculture, wildlife, forest firefighting and area landowners and businesses.
Area landowners believe that Gull Lake water levels were maintained decades ago partly by water flowing in from two small channels at the north end.
Those channels are now gone, logging along them more than a century ago removed protective trees. Later, roads were built and the small waterways soon filled in by silt, soil and vegetation.
With Gull Lake now at record-low levels, there is growing momentum to find ways to restore water levels that are now so low that some boat launched can't be used.
History books claim that in the late 1800s Gull Lake covered more than 120 square kilometres. By the late 1970s, the lake was three metres shallower and covered 90 square kilometres and it has continued to shrink over the last 50 years.
Some area landowners believe water is available that could be diverted to the lake. For example, a beaver dam has created a huge water body north of Highway 53.
