HISTORY OF LAKE MEREDITH INFLOWS AND LAKE LEVELS, 1965 - 2015

Lake Meredith on the Canadian River in Potter and Carson Counties in the Texas Panhandle began filling behind Sanford Dam in Spring of 1965. By June of that year the lake had already grown to 158,000 acre-feet. By 1973 Lake Meredith had reached a depth of 101.9 feet and an estimated storage of 540,000 acre-feet. Deliveries of lake water to several cities, including Amarillo and Lubbock began in 1968 but by 2012 the lake level had dropped to the point where no water was delivered to cities. What are the factors that have changed since Sanford Dam was constructed that have affected the lake level? Runoff from precipitation within the watershed produces the most direct response to lake levels. However, average annual precipitation measured at Amarillo has decreased and average annual temperatures have increased producing decreased runoff and increased evaporation. Releases from Ute Dam in New Mexico have occurred only twice in the last 15 years. It is not possible to quantify flow changes in the tributaries to the Canadian River between Ute Dam and Lake Meredith, however declines in the water level of the High Plains Aquifer have dried up many of the springs in the High Plains area and it is likely that this has also had an effect on springs feeding tributaries to the Canadian. The dramatic increase of saltcedar in the Canadian River valley in the last three decades has also most likely contributed to the reduced inflows into Lake Meredith. Finally, because the bedrock geology at the dam site contains abundant evaporite deposits, it is likely that dissolution of these evaporites has increased the amount of seepage underneath and around the dam.