Lake Altoona water level to be lowered for dam repairs

Thursday, October 8, 2015
Noelle Anderson, WEAU

ALTOONA, Wis. (WEAU)-- In the next few weeks, Lake Altoona will be getting a bit of a transformation. Nearly 10 feet of water will be drawn to repair part of the dam located on the lake.

The Eau Claire County Parks & Forest Department announced Wednesday, the water level on Lake Altoona needs to be lowered significantly in order to perform dam repairs.

The county says there are concerns with the piers on the dam that are in need of repair. The water level on the lake will be dropped by 6 inches per day until water levels are low enough to do the required concrete repairwork.

The county is asking people living on the lake to remove any boats or docks.

"For all the residents that have homes and properties on Lake Altoona, that have docks or watercrafts in the lake, we recommend that they try to remove those as soon as they can because as we start to draw down the lake, it will be a period of one or two days that the boat landings will still be accessible to get in and out of the lake," says Josh Petersen, Parks and Forest Director with Eau Claire County.

Petersen says the drawdown will begin this coming Monday and take a few weeks to get to the level necessary for repairs.

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