Sep 11, 2007 LTPOA Reports

Dam Committee Report 
On Sat Oct 6 at 10 AM, Dave Taylor of Strata Systems will meet with members of the LTPOA Board and the Dam Committee at the dam off N Lakeshore Dr. Dave will discuss what he can do for us, scheduling, and pricing. Dave was highly recommended as the best person to repair the dam. It is very important that members of the Board meet with Dave. Dave had been scheduled to be here on Sep 15 but he had to cancel.

Mike Leiweke has purchased a large, heavy-gauge stainless steel box suitable for use as a weir box. This will allow us to more easily obtain accurate leak flow rates. The box is used and cost $200. Mike will construct the weir box and also construct the weir plate.  

Diane at Raintree told me that on Aug. 16 their large lake was down 17.75 inches. On the same date our lake was down 23.75 inches. So our lake was down 6 more inches than Raintree, which should be wholly due to the leak. As of Wed, Sep 5 our lake was down 31.75 inches. Based on the “Raintree model,” our lake would be down about 23.72 inches, about 8 inches less if the leak were completely fixed. As of Sep 11 Lake Tishomingo is down 27.5 inches.

Two water samples from 07/30/2007 were analyzed by UMC AGRO Soil Testing Services, a Leak (Spring) water sample and a Lake water sample (taken off our dock at F29):
 
Water Test           Lake        Spring   Unit
================================================
pH			8.14	7.19
Elect. Conductivity	0.392	0.330	dS/m   
Total Dissolved Solids	251	211	ppm
Nitrate(NO3-)		0.447	0.397	ppm  
Sulfate (SO4 =)		12.6	6.9	ppm 
Chloride (Cl-)		32.9	30.1	ppm 
Sodium (Na)		17.4	15.7	ppm 
Calcium (Ca)		26.6	26.6	ppm 
Magnesium (Mg)	13.9	12.7	ppm 
Iron (Fe)		0.008	0.008	ppm 
Manganese (Mn)	0.019	0.015	ppm 
Copper (Cu)		0.019	0.005	ppm 
 
I don't see much difference between Lake water and Leak water. I think we expected to see more difference in Ca/Mg between the two samples, but both contain about the same amount of Ca/Mg. Perhaps the water is passing thru the rock too fast to show significant increases in Ca/Mg levels. It is interesting that the Ca level is pretty close to twice the Mg level in both samples.
 
On pH, the lake water is slightly more basic (7.00 is neutral), but neither sample is really acidic.
This data was sent to dam engineer D. Eskridge for his interpretation.
-- Rich Hirsch for the Dam Committee

Gate Report
Various people called on Sat Sep 8 reporting that the callbox at the gate was not working. I got to the gate at about 2 PM and verified that making a call from the callbox always gave a busy signal or dead air. After doing cold restarts of the computers and drying out terminal boxes, which did not 
help, I gave up and called AT&T. An automated voice indicated that the problem would be solved by 7 PM Mon Sep 10. I locked the ingate into the "OPEN" position and left at about 3 PM.

On Sun Sep 9 I tested the callbox at about 3 PM. The line was noisy, but calls could be made and the gate opened, so I restored the gate to normal operation. (Everything but the callbox functioned normally during the time the callbox was out.)

On Mon Sep 10 we got a call from the teleco guy saying the problem had been fixed. I went to the gate and talked to the guy and this is what I learned:
1) He said that the problem was "a crossed line" a few houses down on the north side. (I suspect this means the insulation had worn thru a couple of wires and there was a short.)
2) The telephone network junction box for the tele line used by the gate is attached to the back of the guard house. To test the line, simple open the network box (unscrew) and attach a phone with a modular plug to the bottom jack. If the phone works and the line is quiet, the problem lies in the gate circuitry. If, on the other hand, the phone is noisy or doesn't work, the problem lies with the phone co.

In any case the gate is working again and data sending/receiving seems better than it has ever been since I became involved with the gate.
-- Rich Hirsch for the Gate Committee