Water is flowing into Stump Lake now, but it s also flowing into Devils Lake through the Mauvais Coulee and Channel A at the head of Six Mile Bay. So the water levels on the west side of Devils Lake at Minnewaukan are probably as much as a foot higher than the official level recorded by the measuring device at Creel Bay, near the city of Devils Lake. When the measuring device at Creel Bay records the lake s level at 1447.7, the level of the lake where it flows into Stump Lake may be as low as 1446.7. It takes time for the water to flow from the west end of the lake to the east end. When the water quits flowing in on the west end, the lake level will drop, probably down to about 1446.5.
Evaporation also plays a part in the process of lowering the lake in late summer.
But evaporation hasn t been able to come close to keeping up with the inflow since 1993. Even when the inflows have fallen on some years, evaporation has played a lesser role than many people thought it would. Once Stump Lake fills up, the two lakes will stabilize at about 1448. The weather will be the determining factor in how long this will take. If things continue as they have the past decade, it will only be a couple years until the two lakes become one and stabilize.