Safe Yield of Canobie Lake: 

Safe Yield is the maximum amount of water that can be withdrawn annually, safely, from a lake used as a municipal water source.  It is equal to the amount by which the lake recharges in a drought year.  If you withdraw more water than the Safe Yield the lake will not fully recharge in a drought year.  If the drought persists the lake will become lower year after year, and there won't be enough water to continue.

The safe yield for Canobie Lake has been calculated to be 485 million gallons per year, MG/y.  In each of the last four years Salem has drawn more water than the safe yield.

                      YearMG            Withdrawn          Percent over Safe Yield

                          2013                      502                                 4

                          2014                      534                               10

                          2015                      593                               22

                          2016                      581                               20

The years 2015 and 2016 were drought years.  Salem placed restrictions on outside watering in 2016.

The CLPA Board has brought this situation to the attention of Salem town leaders.  We believe that Salem must acquire additional sources of water, so they don't continue to overdraw Canobie Lake.  Salem is currently doing engineering studies looking at several possibilities for getting more source water.  The CLPA will continue to encourage Salem to follow through, and acquire additional source water.