The levee at lower Lake Mary has breached. Coconino County officials are asking residents to stay away from Forest Service Road 296 and 296B.
According to the County, multiple agencies are on scene assessing the situation.
Lower Lake Mary is roughly 1/4 mile wide and 5 miles long.
According to experts, if fifteen feet of the lake’s water depth flows through the levee breach, it would be over 136.64 million gallons, or about 419-acre feet of water lost from the lake’s storage.
Northern Arizona does not have rivers and must rely on rain and snowfall to provide water for the City of Flagstaff and the surrounding communities, captured within the lakes and underground aquifers.
The Forest Service supervises the lake, they have known about the leaks since last week and took no action. Finally on April 9, Coconino County advised residents that the Coconino National Forest’s Flagstaff Ranger District (FRD) issued a “closure order for a portion of Lower Lake Mary’s west side due to a leaking levee.”
Urgent from the @coconinonf:
The Coconino National Forest’s Flagstaff Ranger District (FRD) has issued a closure order for a portion of Lower Lake Mary’s west side due to a leaking levee.
The closure has been issued as a precaution due to visible leaks in the levee.
“The safety… pic.twitter.com/FUib8TIDEy— Coconino County (@CoconinoCounty) April 9, 2023
Former Arizona State Rep. Bob Thorpe, who lives near the lake told the Arizona Daily Independent that he is surprised by the lack of action.
“The Forest Service (USFS) has done nothing. The lake water level is 2 feet below the top of the levee, millions of gallons are going to flow through the breach, I hope nobody drowns, this is an embarrassment for USFS.”