News / News in Brief / On The Lake

Lake drawdown to begin Sept. 22

September 3, 2025

By Reader Staff

Lake Pend Oreille will remain at summer pool elevation — 2,062-2,062.5 feet — through Sunday, Sept. 21, with the gradual fall drawdown to begin Monday, Sept. 22. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers set a target of 2,060-2061 feet by Sept. 30 and 2,051-2,051.5 feet no later than Nov. 15.

The winter low pool, also known as flexible winter power operations, will allow the lake to be raised up to five feet in the winter, with stored water to be released to generate power as needed — a practice that has been utilized sparingly over the past decade.

Restricted gate operations at Albeni Falls Dam due to the ongoing gate replacement project are not affecting the schedule.

Want to support independent local journalism?

The Sandpoint Reader is our town's local, independent weekly newspaper. "Independent" means that the Reader is locally owned and operated by people who were born and raised in Sandpoint. The Reader is owned by Publisher Ben Olson, Editor-in-Chief Zach Hagadone and Senior Writer Soncirey Mitchell. Sandpoint Reader LLC is a completely independent business unit; no big newspaper group or corporate conglomerate or billionaire owner dictates our editorial policy. And we want the news, opinion and lifestyle stories we report to be freely available to all interested readers - so unlike many other newspapers and media websites, we have NO PAYWALL on our website. The Reader relies wholly on the support of our valued advertisers, as well as readers who voluntarily contribute. Want to ensure that local, independent journalism survives in our town? You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.

Contribute at Patreon

Contribute at Paypal