MILLERSPORT, Ohio - Buckeye Lake can start refilling to a depth closer to the normal summer level, allowing boating to resume, Ohio Department of Natural Resources James Zehringer announced this morning. Dam-safety improvements completed recently allow for the water level to be increased two feet above the winter pool, Zehringer said. That means the lake depth would be about five feet, close to the normal summer depth of six feet.

MILLERSPORT, Ohio � Ron Craig normally doesn't wish for rain over Memorial Day weekend, but this kickoff to the summer season at Buckeye Lake is different.



Craig is among the residents and business owners in the Buckeye Lake region who are hoping for a lot of rain, and fast, so the lake can refill quickly now that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has approved raising the water level.



Shortly after 7 a.m. on Thursday, workers closed the spillway gates to allow the lake to start refilling to a depth closer to the normal summer level, allowing boating to resume, department Director James Zehringer announced to the applause of Craig and others gathered at Buckeye Lake State Park.



"This year," said Craig, president of the Buckeye Lake Civic Association, "let it rain, let it rain. We'll take two feet of water."



Dam-safety improvements completed recently allow for the water level to be increased two feet above the winter pool, Zehringer said. That means the lake depth would be about five feet, close to the normal summer depth of six feet.



"We're pretty excited," Zehringer said. "This will (allow) boating, at idle speeds, to reach most businesses around the lake."



Full-throttle boating will be allowed in the designated no-speed-limit zone from sunrise to sunset in the deeper part of the lake (it becomes a no-wake zone at night). Shallower parts of the lake outside that zone are designated an idle-speed, no-wake zone. But no tow-sports such as tubing or water-skiing will be allowed anywhere on the lake because of ongoing dredging work.



Owners of bars, restaurants, marinas, bait shops and other businesses that ring up most of their sales in the busy summer season have been waiting for this.



"That's wonderful," Zilda King, owner of Z's Village Market, Bait and Tackle, said after she heard the news on Thursday. "As long as Mother Nature cooperates with us."



Tracy Higginbotham, who owns Buckeye Lake Winery, said, however, that unless there was an inordinate amount of rainfall to refill the lake, this summer might be as slow for business as last summer.



"It might be incrementally better but not significantly better," he said.



The department had kept the lake shallow as a safety precaution and off limits to most boating since March 2015, when Gov. John Kasich announced that the state would build a new dam to replace the nearly 200-year-old earthen dam. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concluded that the old dam was at significant risk for failure.



The new dam won't be completed until 2019. But completion of the project's first phase � construction of a 30-foot-wide stability berm and a seepage barrier running the 4.1-mile length of the current dam � allows for the lake level to be raised while the rest of the $100-million-plus project proceeds.



Zehringer said he was proud of the work performed virtually around the clock to complete the first phase, putting the project nearly one year ahead of schedule.



Project engineer Gannett Fleming and construction manager ASI, the department's contractors, recommended that two feet above the winter depth would be an acceptable level at this stage of the project, he said. The lake will not be returned to the full summer pool until the new dam is built and approved to meet required safety standards.



It's impossible to know how long it will take the lake to fill to a five-foot depth.



"We're at the hands of Mother Nature," Zehringer said.





@MaryBethLane1