High Water Adds New Facet To Diamond Lake Residents Find High Lake Levels Just As Bad As Recent Low Levels

A couple of summers ago, some Diamond Lake residents fretted about water levels so low they couldn’t use their docks. Now, the water is at some of their doorsteps.

The level of this southern Pend Oreille County lake apparently is the highest it’s been in more than 40 years.

Joe and Ellie Renggli have been pumping water from around their low-lying house at the east end of the lake since water came through the door almost two weeks ago. Three pumps are keeping the water at bay, but the Rengglis keep sandbags around the door just in case.

At the south side of the lake, along U.S. Highway 2, Bob and Deb Morris’ Diamond Lake Resort is swimming in flood-caused cancellations. Their boat ramp and picnic grounds are under water.

Only three of eight cabins were occupied on Memorial Day, and one of those was filled only because a burning vehicle axle forced someone to stop. Now the Morrises worry their resort won’t be back to normal in time for the Fourth of July weekend.

“I have actually got August reservations canceling out after driving by,” Bob Morris said.

And, Deb Morris said, “You can’t afford to lose any day in this business.”

One of their cancellations was a state Ecology Department worker who came last week to confirm that lake water was seeping into the resort’s sewage pumping system. The problem is not serious unless the pump loses power.

Since then, the lake seems to have gone down about an inch, Renggli and the Morrises said. Most other Diamond Lake residents don’t have such serious problems, but many have flooded yards and few can remember seeing so much water in the lake.

The water is higher than it was when Bob Owen moved to the lake in 1956. He built a boathouse just above the high water, and water is lapping against the building now.

“It’s a little bit higher than I’ve ever seen it before,” he said.

Owen attributes that to a lot of rain, but others - including the Morrises and the Rengglis - suspect beavers among other factors. They may all be correct.

Len Mazarowski, the National Weather Service hydrologist in Spokane, said precipitation since last fall has been 40 percent to 50 percent above average. There have been 10.5 inches of rainfall since January, compared with an average of 7.5 inches.

“It was nothing outstanding, but it has been just wet enough and we haven’t had much evaporation,” Mazarowski said, citing unseasonably cool temperatures.

Lakes throughout northeastern Washington are at record or nearrecord levels, according to Madonna Luers, spokeswoman for the state Fish and Wildlife Department. But Luers said a department worker found a beaver dam that “may well be a factor in the high water levels at Diamond Lake.”

The dam is in a man-made canal that drains the west end of the lake.

Contrary to what many people in the area believe, Luers said the Wildlife Department is not an obstacle to removing the beaver dam. She said the department would quickly remove the dam or put a pipe through it to drain the water if someone applied for a permit and the landowner consented.

“The problem is a lot of the homeowners like the high water because the levels have been so low in recent years that a lot of people haven’t been able to keep their docks,” Luers said. “There is not a consensus among the homeowners along the lake.”

Mazarowski offered some hope for water-weary residents. While 1996 is off to a soggy start, he said there’s still plenty of time for it to turn into an average year.

“The dry period is coming,” he said. “It starts right about now.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo