WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Recent rain hasn’t had much effect on the lake levels at Cheney. As of Tuesday morning, it is 8.6 feet below normal. With water levels so low, new obstacles are popping up above the surface.
Low water levels at Cheney Lake have been a concern for years. It is the reservoir Wichita, and other communities pull from for water.
Boat ramps are now completely above ground, boat docks are sitting on dry land, and so are pieces of debris that used to be under the water’s surface.
“There’s picnic tables that are out there, just some old rocks that are out there from during the construction of things, sandbars that boats might hit as they’re going across the lake,” said Mitch Schwartz, Cheney Lake State Park Manager.
Over the past year, calls about debris have been coming in a lot more often.
“We do the best with what we have. When something is out there and exposed, we can see that we’ll go out there and try to move it to the best that we can,” Schwartz said.
The cleanup efforts can’t stop lake levels from sinking and debris from deterring boaters, which in turn impacts business for Roger Powell, co-owner of The Outpost at Cheney Lake.
“I had some fisherman early this spring that hit a few things in the water… it’s hard to tell what it was, but there is some metal stuff at the bottom of the lake … there’s some rocks on this side that have affected some of the boaters,” Powell said.
Debris in the middle of the lake can be out of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks’ jurisdiction, and under the Bureau of Reclamation’s care.
“Although we can help out as much as we can, any cleanup or things like that are gonna have to go through the bureau,” said Conner O’Flannagan, State Park Regional Supervisor.
For Powell, all that’s left to do is hope for more rain.
“We’ll have to look forward to next spring and hopefully it’ll rain and get some more water in the lake, and it’ll all be better,” Powell said.
According to the KDWP, there are no plans to work with the Bureau of Reclamation to do a big lake cleanup any time soon. Their resources are focused in other areas.