Water Levels
Who is responsible for maintaining water levels of the
Canal System within the Oswego River Basin?
The Canal Corporation's Syracuse Division Canal Office is
responsible for maintaining water levels of the Canal System within
the Oswego River Basin for navigational purposes.
Graphs of Current Water Levels - Oswego River Basin
Each of the
above PDF Charts
are approximately 70Kb.
What affects water levels?
The source of most water in the Canal System is precipitation,
which varies locally as well as seasonally. Even normal variations
can present difficulties for water-level regulation. In
addition, time of year is an important factor in control decisions
as it affects runoff and storm patterns:
- SUMMER – While most rainstorms fail to saturate the soils
sufficiently to produce runoff, a sequence of small-intensity
storms over a short time and small area can result in locally
high runoff rates.
- FALL/WINTER – When crop and vegetation growth ceases, the
soil can become saturated and allow storms to produce more
runoff than during the summer.
- SPRING – Rapidly melting large winter snowpack combined with
spring rains cause high river and lake levels and more runoff
from the saturated ground than the rivers can transport within
their banks.
The runoff produced by precipitation over a given area depends
largely on soil and infiltration characteristics, ground slope and
seasonal factors, such as degree of saturation and the amount and
type of vegetation.
The response of small streams to runoff is more rapid
("flashy") than that of large streams. Inflow increases at
the upper end of a long stream, lake or canal section will be
noticed at the lower end much later than increases that develop near
the middle or lower end of the reach.
What does the Canal Corporation do to regulate and
monitor water levels?
All of the 22 locks within the basin have a fixed crest dam or a
movable dam as water control structures. The following seven locks
are considered major control points because of their effect on the
water level in the upstream channel and/or lakes:
- Lock E-23 (Erie Canal)
- Lock E-24
- Locks E-25 and E-26
- Lock CS-1 (Cayuga/Seneca Canal)
- Lock CS-4
- Lock 0-1 (Oswego Canal).
The Syracuse Division Canal Office compiles information daily
from the seven control points. The operation is a continuous
four-step process: review present conditions, evaluate data,
recommend action and monitor results. Specific actions are taken
depending upon water levels and conditions at each control point.
On Monday mornings, water managers for Canandaigua, Keuka, Owasco
and Skaneateles Lakes fax to the Syracuse Canal Office existing
water elevations, target water elevations, and discharge rates. This
data is compiled and returned to all water managers. If the
discharge rate changes during the week, the Syracuse Canal Office is
notified immediately.
What are the current weather conditions and water
levels?
For your convenience we have provided links to the current
forecasts for Syracuse
and Oswego.
These forecasts are maintained by the National
Weather Service and are text only.
The US Geological Survey's
New
York Office also has information about
Weather and
Water Levels in
New York State.
Information on precipitation,
current
radar summaries, and weather
forecasts can be found on Intellicast.
These links to Intellicast should be in no way construed as an
endorsement of Intellicast, MSNBC, or their parent companies.
Call (315) 438-2499 for information on water levels, control
structure openings and hydro plant activities on the Canal System
within the Oswego River Basin.
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