Austin Amestoy: Welcome to The Big Why, a series from Montana Public Radio where we find out what we can discover together. I'm your host, Austin Amestoy. This is a show about listener powered reporting. We'll answer questions large or small about anything under the Big Sky. By Montanans, for Montana, this is The Big Why.
Today we're talking about water. Specifically, Flathead Lake water. Reporter Aaron Bolton's here with us. Hey, Aaron.
Aaron Bolton: Hey Austin!
Austin Amestoy: So I may not be from the Flathead, Aaron, but I definitely know the lake is kind of the lifeblood of the region, whether you're talking about the recreation economy or just locals looking for a place to cool off. So, what's up with the lake?
Aaron Bolton: Well, right now, the lake's levels are historically low. And that's reducing business at restaurants, marinas and other places that rely on people's ability to get their boats in and out of the water. We received an anonymous question from a listener who wrote that they'd heard the levels might be a result of human error, as in releasing too much water out of the lake from a dam. So, they wanted to know what's really behind these wildly low water levels we're seeing.
Austin Amestoy: Whoa, 'wildly low.' Aaron, just how 'wildly low' are we talking about right now?
Aaron Bolton: The lake is at an all time low for this time of year. To put it in simple terms, at Flathead Harbor in Lakeside, you can see empty spaces where boats would normally be tied up. At many restaurants, other businesses on the lake are serving fewer customers because the water is too low for people to dock the boats safely.
Joel Eddins manages the Flathead Harbor. There are still some boats in the marina, but they sit about two feet below the dock.
Joel Eddins: I mean, it's not too bad right now, but if this were to pick up just a little bit more, all these boats are just going to hit underneath the dock and get destroyed.
Aaron Bolton: The empty boat slips mean Eddins is losing a lot of money, making it hard to maintain the docks, which need repairs. Closer to the shore, the water is less than a foot deep, too shallow for any boats to use. Eddin said he's already asking the Army Corps of Engineers for permission to dig out this area of the harbor.
Joel Eddins: I have a feeling, I've been told it's a new normal, so, maybe being able to have this a little deeper so we can still utilize this.
Austin Amestoy: He thinks these low water levels might be the new normal. What does he mean by that?
Aaron Bolton: Eddins doesn't directly mention climate change, but he expects to be dealing with low water levels into the future. He wants to adapt to that potential to keep the marina running as its one of the last cheaper public marinas on the lake.
Austin Amestoy: So we have historically low water levels on the lake and some people, like Eddins, expect this to happen more often. So, Aaron, is this year's low water levels a sign of climate change?
Aaron Bolton: In short, it is. But before we get to how climate change is playing a role in this, we want to explain what led to the water conundrum we find ourselves in now. Our question asker wanted to know if one of the dams released too much water, accidentally draining the lake too quickly. To answer that, you need to understand what influences the lake's water levels. All the water comes from melting snowpack in the spring. That runoff goes directly into the lake, but also into the Hungry Horse Reservoir north of Flathead Lake and the CSKT dam to the south.
Austin Amestoy: So the dams control how much water flows in and out of Flathead Lake?
Aaron Bolton: Yeah, exactly. The dams have federal licenses that dictate how much water they can release from the dams. And when, in the spring, the Hungry Horse Reservoir begins releasing water to help fill Flathead Lake to what's known as full pool. Brian Lipscomb, the CEO of the CSKT dam, said they limit how much water flows out of the lake into the Flathead River. Earlier this year, both dams helped fill the lake faster than normal.
Brian Lipscomb: This year, as we filled the lake, got to full pool, June 1. Early.
Austin Amestoy: But obviously the lake hasn't stayed at full pool. Why has it dropped so much?
Aaron Bolton: Lipscomb said the CSKT dam controls the top 10 feet of the lake based on how much water it releases. The dam has released the minimum amount of water it's allowed to under its license in an attempt to keep the lake as full as possible. But northwest Montana is in a drought, meaning not much rain has come.
Brian Lipscomb: In spite of us being at minimum flows, the inflows dropped severely and so inflow went below outflow. The lake dropped to make up the difference.
Austin Amestoy: So it doesn't sound like the dam released too much water draining the lake, right?
Aaron Bolton: Nope. Again, Lipscomb said the dam has essentially turned down the taps as much as they can to keep more water in Flathead Lake.
Austin Amestoy: Well, as our regular listeners probably know, we've done a lot of coverage recently of the political debate over Flathead Lake. Gov. Greg Gianforte and other politicians have focused their attention on the Hungry Horse Reservoir north of the lake. They asked officials to increase the amount of water flowing into Flathead Lake. Has that happened?
Aaron Bolton: Not in the way politicians and businesses on the lake would want. The reservoir is still releasing water, but a board that controls the dam denied Gianforte's request. The Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees that board, said if they draw down the reservoir too far, it'll be hard to fill up again if we have another bad snow year. That could create a perpetual cycle of low water levels on Flathead Lake if they draw down too far to resolve this year's low water levels.
Austin Amestoy: That sounds like a short-term fix that could cause some big long-term problems. But I want to come back to this bigger question of climate change, Aaron. How is that playing a role here?
Aaron Bolton: Climate scientists said the factors that led to this year's low water levels are likely to become more common. Cathy Whitlock was the lead author of Montana's Climate Assessment that came out a few years back.
Cathy Whitlock: We'll get snow, but because it's warmer, the snow is going to melt sooner and we're going to see more rain on snow events. We're going to see more rapid snow melt and we're going to be going into summer with less water. And so setting ourselves up for summer drought.
Aaron Bolton: That doesn't mean we'll experience historic water lows every year as there's a lot of variability year to year in terms of snowpack and spring temps that regulate how fast it melts. But agencies like the U.S. Geological Service over a decade ago did predict that a warming climate could lead to low snowpack, and that snow melting faster, leading to years like this summer. Whitlock expects these low water events to become increasingly common going into the future.
Austin Amestoy: We started this conversation with Eddins talking about how he wants to adapt to low water levels in the future. Our other businesses on the lake in the same boat, so to speak?
Aaron Bolton: It depends on who you talk to. Some business owners on the lake who didn't want to go on tape blamed the dam managers for this year's low water levels, arguing they could keep more water in the lake. That's been the focus of a series of meetings around Flathead Lake. But for many business owners, adapting to low water levels is hard and expensive. Here's Hidden Marina and Old Faithful Water Sports Manager Riley Folkman.
Riley Folkman: Unfortunately, there's not too many things that we can do to adapt to it. We did put in our floating docks over there, which have been great. People love to come and use those because those come and go with the water level. But even with those to a certain extent, you can see that dock over there, how steep of an angle it's at.
Aaron Bolton: The dock he points to is tipped to one side making it hard to get in and out of the boat that's tied to it. The rest of his docks are permanent, meaning they stay at the same height no matter the water level. He could rip those out and install all floating docks, but that would be tens of thousands of dollars, if not more. There's also the permitting process to contend with. Folkman said getting approval for a new dock system would take years, if it was approved at all.
Austin Amestoy: Well, that does sound pretty difficult to deal with and we'll have to wait and see if and how businesses decide to adapt in the future. Aaron, thanks so much for your reporting.
Aaron Bolton: Thanks for having me Austin.
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