A real drag: Brendan Kearns pulls his jon boat across a sandbar in the Wabash River on Tuesday afternoon. Record low water levels have made for difficult navigation of the state waterway. Staff photo by Jim Avelis
A real drag: Brendan Kearns pulls his jon boat across a sandbar in the Wabash River on Tuesday afternoon. Record low water levels have made for difficult navigation of the state waterway. Staff photo by Jim Avelis
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How can a river level be negative?
• River stages are calculated using an arbitrary “gage zero” point, according to the National Weather Service River Forecast Center. Negative level readings – such as those recorded Tuesday in Terre Haute – are possible because “gage zero” points were established decades ago and, over time, the river has shifted and scoured. The “gage zero” points are not changed to avoid the complications associated with changing a river or stream “flood stage.”

All of Indiana placed under water shortage warning

Worsening drought conditions have placed the entire state of Indiana under a water shortage warning.

The Department of Homeland Security extended the warning to all 92 counties Tuesday after placing less than half the state in that category a week ago.

Homeland Security Executive Director Joe Wainscott says that the dry conditions put the state in “uncharted territory.”

The the state is asking those who use 100,000 gallons of water or more daily to cut usage by 10 percent to 15 percent because reservoirs are being depleted.
TERRE HAUTE — Lightning flashed in the distance as Brendan Kearns piloted his motor boat, designed for high speeds and shallow water, up the Wabash River near Terre Haute on Tuesday afternoon.

Amazingly, the biggest concern for the three people on board was not the occasional appearance of large Asian carp leaping high out of the water. Nor was it the welcome rainstorm.

The biggest concern was hitting the bottom of the river.

“This boat was designed for shallow water,” Kearns said as his 60-horsepower motor churned up a swill of water and sand. “And we’re getting stuck.”

The U.S. Geological Survey listed the Wabash River at Terre Haute on Tuesday at just below the zero mark.

That’s as low as pretty much anyone can remember. Maybe a little lower.

A normal depth for the river at Terre Haute is about seven feet. That means the current level is seven feet less than normal.

There is a bright side to the low water level. The shallow water has exposed things in the river that are normally invisible, such as mussel-covered sandbars and rocky beaches and massive, gray tree roots.

“I have never seen this much wildlife,” Kearns said. “You’re seeing stuff out here that you normally wouldn’t see.”

A boat trip up the river Tuesday from Fairbanks Park to north of the Indiana 63 bridge reveals a bald eagle, several herons, egrets, wild turkeys taking a drink at the bank and lots of leaping Asian carp.

It also exposes sandbars and other unexpected hazards.

“That was a car!” Kearns said after his boat suddenly struck something metallic and just below the surface of the river. “I’m sure that was a car.”

The shallow water on the Wabash can expose new dangers to anyone boating on the waterway, said Max Winchell, a conservation officer with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. It can also lead boaters to assume the river is shallow when, in fact, it can become suddenly very deep. Around some bridges, the river reaches depths of close to 40 feet, Kearns said.

“You never know what the river is going to do,” Winchell said.

In addition to being low, the river is also moving very slowly in most areas.

The U.S. Geological Survey measures a river’s current in “cubic feet per second.” In recent days, the USGS has recorded the speed of the Wabash at Terre Haute at levels around 800 CFS, easily breaking a record of 1,180 CFS set back in 1936.

The low river level has not slowed things for Joe’s Airboats, a business that takes customers for 12-mile, round-trip rides on a small boat with what appears to be a giant fan on its stern. The airboat only requires an inch or two of water, said Dennis Hoopingarner, father of Joe Hoopingarner, owner of Joe’s Airboats.

The shallow waters have brought out more eagles, Dennis Hoopingarner said. Kearns agreed the eagle activity does seem to be higher, thanks perhaps to more prey being exposed by the low water level.

And while some animals, such as eagles, are enjoying better hunting conditions, other animals, such as turtles, frogs, minks and muskrats, are having a tougher time due to the lack of rain and will likely see lower population figures over the next couple of years, the DNR’s Winchell said.

Droughts are one of the “limiting factors” for wildlife population, Winchell said. “It’s not the end of everything. Hopefully we’ll get some rain. But [the drought] will take a toll.”
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