UPDATE: September 28, 2024 – At today’s Lake Hawkins property owners meeting, Commissioner Mike Simmons announced that he will start lowering the lake on October 16th. The expectation is that the level will reach -3 feet in six weeks (the beginning of December). That level will be maintained for about 2 weeks. At that point the valve will be closed most of the way so that lake can slowly rise. Though everything changes depending on rain. But it looks like the idea time to do any shoreline maintenance will be mid-December to mid-January. This lowering is a year earlier than normal to enable repairs that are needed on the Morning Glory spillway.
One of the wonderful things about Lake Hawkins is that it’s level stays consistent. Property owners especially enjoy that during drought years when huge reservoirs in the area like Lake of the Pines or Lake Fork are down nine feet or more. Even worse, when the Sun is most intense and things are as dry as a bone due to months without rain, the City of Dallas sucks even more water out of those lakes with a 100-mile long, 4-foot diameter straw to keep itself alive. You see, Dallas more-or-less owns the water right for those lakes since it footed a significant part of the bill to have them built.
But Lake Hawkins doesn’t have that problem. Moreover, it’s fed by seven springs which continually add cool, crystal clear, living water. In fact, it’s very rare that there is not a constant flow of water over Morning Glory, the lake’s spill way.
But this blessing comes with a down side for property owners. How to build a waterfront wall? How to manage unwanted vegetation? How to dredge out the muck and replace with nice beach sand?
In 2017, the new commissioner—who was also a Lake Hawkins property owner—decided to try an experiment and lower the lake four feet to allow property owner to do shoreline maintenance. Of course, this couldn’t be down during Summer, the height of lake activity. Winter was the best time for this, when only the fishermen would have to find new favorite fishing holes.
When Fall rolled around, Morning Glory’s valve was cranked open. The lake’s level reached minus 4-feet in November, and it was announced that this was the lowest the water would get and residents had one month to do whatever it was they were going to do. To get their muck together, so-to-speak.
One thing that caught everyone by surprise was that all the boat ramps were high and dry and there was no way to get a boat into the lake. Fisherman were anxious to get a new perspective on their favorite fishing holes and scout out new ones. The commissioner’s crew got busy and extended the three major boat ramps.
After a month, Morning Glory was shut down and everyone wondered if the lake would reach normal lever again by Memorial Day. Ha! All it took was nice rain or two and Lake Hawkins was back in all it’s glory, complete with lots of nice new bulwarks, docks, and boat houses! The commissioner and neighbors had even taken the opportunity to remove some dangerous stumps that had previously hidden just beneath the surface, clear boat pathways and place marker buoys.
The whole affair was such a success that it was determined that the lowering of the lake would become an unofficial 4-year tradition that property owners could plan around and prepare for. The second lowering happened in the winter of 2021.
Be the first to comment