The Cormorant outlet is mainly for overflow when the lake is high. It is a man-made structure that can be set to different levels. When the water level rises above the structure, overflow flows into Spring Creek and eventually Pelican Lake.

Water samples are only taken at the Cormorant outlet when the water level is high enough to be flowing. This usually occurs in the spring. Therefore, the results from this site are not representative of year-round conditions.

Calculator

The Big Cormorant culvert is a steel circular culvert. view calculator

Water Quality

Due to the intermittant flow, the total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a loading are graphed against the flow. These levels are relatively low, and are monitored to track high water events and discharges from Big Cormorant lake. view graphs

Flow

The Cormorant outlet is a control dam for Cormorant Lake and is opened periodically. Averaged data from the Cormorant outlet could be distorted since samples are taken monthly, but the outlet is controlled daily. A more accurate calculation of the monthly flow would be the number of days flowing times the flow rate divided by the number of days in the month. Flow at the Cormorant outlet ranges from 0 to 30 cfs of water. view graphs