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Watermarks Explained

A watermark is a specific water level (measured in feet above MSL) that the lake can rise to or fall to before triggering LLA to send you an alert email. You will set a watermark for every alert you create using controls like the set shown below .

Alert me when my lake a level of   ft. MSL.

Consider these questions:
  • What is the current numeric level (feet above mean sea level or MSL) of my lake? This can be answered by checking current lake levels for lakes that LLA monitors.
  • Is my lake currently at an extreme high or extreme low level?
  • Is the object or condition that I am creating the alert for such as a dock or boat currently floating, grounded or under water.
  • Is the object that I am creating the alert for at risk, unusable or even damaged as a result of current lake levels?
  • How many feet (vertically) would the lake have to rise or fall to place my dock, boat or other object in jeopardy OR correct current problems?

Once you formulate answers to these questions and compare them to the current water level of your lake, the watermark that you should set for your alert will become more obvious.

Below are some suggestions for identifying the watermarks for your alerts.

Watermark Calculators Coming Soon!

Simple Observation Method

The easiest method of determining a watermark settings for a specific alert is observation. Seeing your dock or boat in its current state can help you determine what watermark to set for your alert.

For example, if your dock is grounded currently and you know that the current level for your lake is 650 feet MSL; How many vertical feet will the lake need to rise before your dock floats again? You can certainly take an educated guess to determine this answer.

If the lake rises 2 vertical feet to 652.00ft. MSL, do you think that your dock will be floating? If so, create a rising to or above alert with the watermark set to 652.00ft. for your dock.

So, this alert might be titled Dock Alert and have the watermark controls set to read - Alert me when my lake rises to or above 652.00 Ft. MSL.The observation method might require a little fine-tuning once you see lake levels actually rise or fall to safe levels.

The "Eye Ball It" method to determine a rising water level watermark

This method works well for a dock or boat that is currently grounded and is a simple and fairly accurate way of estimating the number of feet the lake needs to rise to get the object floating again. We are going to base this estimate off of your height. This technique may sound silly but it is fast, easy and usually requires no additional tools.
  1. Stand at the current shoreline (where the water meets the land) and look at the side of the grounded dock, boat or subject of this alert furthest from you and the shoreline. Is the side furthest from you at eye level? Above eye level or below eye level?
  2. If the side of the object furthest away from you is at eye-level, you can conclude with some accuracy that the water level needs to rise at least the number of feet equal to your height.
  3. If the side of the object furthest away from you is below eye-level; estimate how low. Chin level? Waist level? Knee level? You can then simply measure from the ground up to your chin, waist or knee to determine the number of feet the water needs to rise.
  4. If the side of the object furthest away from you is above eye-level, estimate how high. Raise your arm or a stick in the air if a greater length is needed to "guesstimate" the additional height (your height + arm or stick length) needed to get this object floating.


Drop line method to determining a falling water level watermark

This technique works best when your dock or boat is still floating. You will determine how low the lake level can drop before you need to move your dock or boat out from its current floating position assuming your dock is not fixed into position. A tape measure can be used in place of the drop line if you do not mind getting your tape measure wet.

Requirements:
  • One piece of rope of string between 5 - 10 feet long.
  • One moderately small weight. Rocks, ring washers or similar will do.
  • Sharpie pen or magic marker.
  • Tape measure.

Procedure:
  1. Create a Drop "Plumb" Line by tying the weight onto the end of the string or rope.
  2. Sitting or lying on the edge of your dock or boat closest to shore, lower the weight of the drop line until it barely rests on the bottom of the lake.
  3. Raise the weight off of the bottom of the lake approximately 1 foot.
  4. Place a mark on the drop line slightly above the surface of the water using the marker.
  5. Remove the drop line from the lake and stretch it straight on a flat surface.
  6. Measure the distance from the weight on the end of the plumb line all the way to the mark using the tape measure.
This distance measured on the drop line is the number of vertical feet and inches the lake level can drop before your dock or boat is in danger of becoming grounded.

To set the falling water level watermark for your lake level alert, simply check to see what the current lake level is for your lake and subtract the number of feet and inches that you measured. Give yourself a slight buffer from the absolute lowest level by adding 6 inches back into the final number. You now have a safe watermark for your alert and will be alerted each time the lake level drops to within one foot of the level at which your dock or boat would be grounded.

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