Rainbow Lake Blog

 

Spring has sprung! The Shores has had a couple of late winter storms that produced some rain and snow to feed our hopes for a wet season over the next few months. Rainbow Lake is within six inches of spillage today — amazing since we have endured an exceptionally dry summer, followed by an exceptionally dry winter!

 

Efforts to keep Rainbow Lake full — Rainbow Lake Coalition has spent the last twenty years working to keep the lake as full as possible and properly navigable. This 115 acre gem is wholly owned by Show Low/Pinetop-Woodland Irrigation Company, not the lakeside property owners. Through a contract with the Irrigation Company, Rainbow Lake Conservation Company (“RLCC”), a legally organized arm of the Coalition, has raised more than $500,000 to improve infrastructure for Rainbow Lake designed to reduce the amount of water drawn from the lake for irrigators downstream. A contact to pipe the first 1600 feet of open ditch across the 260 Highway, through particularly poor soil that allows significant seepage, has been let by RLCC to Apache Underground. Their work will probably be done no later than next week!

 

This summer, we expect water from Show Low Lake to be pumped up to the Rim overlook to service the last four miles of Rainbow Lake irrigation responsibility, further reducing the draw on the lake. RLCC, a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation, will be paying $3000 per month to the Irrigation Company to support infrastructure improvement. Currently, we are negotiating responsibility for the electrical cost needed to pump water to the last four miles of irrigation.

 

The Shores community was the major contributor to the fund supporting these activities, followed by the folks from Creekside at the dam. Despite the drought conditions, we owe our contributors a debt of thanks for their generosity in preserving a sparkling body of water for future generations.

 

Thanks for your support! To donate:  https://www.rainbowlakecc.org/how-to-donate
 
Dave Derickson
President, The Shores HOA
President, Rainbow Lake Conservation Company