LAKE ST. JOHN, La. — Eighty years after the creation of a regional levee system made Lake St. John completely dependent on rainwater, drought has forced a group of residents to seek solutions to the lake’s low water level.

The residents will study the possibility of siphoning water from the river to maintain a higher level of water in Lake St. John, now a popular recreational lake.

And a U.S. Army of Corps of Engineers spokesman said Thursday that such a plan would be considered by that agency.

&uot;To my knowledge, no one has contacted us about it but, depending on the details of that plan, it could fall under our environmental restoration work,&uot; said spokesman Michael Hogue. &uot;We would certainly take a look at it.&uot;

Such solutions are needed because the level of water in the lake has reached an 18-year low due to three years of drought.

The level of water in the lake Thursday was just over 50 feet above sea level, or four feet below pool stage. That has caused some parts of the lake to become overgrown with vegetation, leaving some boats high and dry.

&uot;We’re working on other short-term solutions that will help — if we get water next year. But who knows whether we will?&uot; said Tom Bell, Lake St. John Advisory Committee chairman.

&uot;This is the only way we know of getting a significant amount of water into the lake.&uot; &160;

The system, involving a series of pipes that would run over the top of the levee that separates the lake from the river, could take five to seven years to develop, William Coleman told the Concordia Parish Police Jury Monday night.

Coleman has been named to head the new subcommittee that will study the feasibility of such a project, Bell said Thursday.

Coleman could not be reached for further comment.

&uot;He has already done research to make sure river stages were high enough to make this feasible,&uot;&160;Bell said.

Now, the subcommittee needs to see how much such a project would cost and where they could get such funding.

Residents of the Lake Bruin area in Tensas Parish have been studying the possibility of such a system for that lake for about two or three months and could also be a source of information for the Lake St. John group.

Hogue said that the Corps funds environmental restoration projects, which are now one of the Corps main focuses, but that local groups have to match that money with some of their our funds. He did not know as of Thursday what percentage match would be required.

Other solutions are being discussed to fix the lake’s water problem in the short term. The Concordia Police Jury has fixed a leak in one of the lake’s water control structures.

The local Levee Board agreed Wednesday to temporarily block a culvert in nearby Little Tensas Bayou, according to board member Barry Maxwell.

A request has been submitted to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Aquatic Control Section to spray vegetation in the lake and nearby Buckner Bayou, though that may come sooner than later.

&uot;We’ll get to it when we can, but a lot of places are in worse shape,&uot; said Mike Ewing of the department’s District IV office in Ferriday.

The Tensas Parish Police Jury will also be asked to close and elevate another water control structure and remove debris and vegetation from part of the Little Tensas.

This is not the first time Lake St. John has been faced with such dry conditions. The lake was almost exactly as low in 1982 and, as a result, the Advisory Committee was formed.

That year, a drainage canal was blocked to help deal with the problem, and that December heavy rains raised the lake’s water level four feet.

&uot;But we can’t count on rains like that,&uot; Bell said. &uot;We’ve got to do something to take care of the problem long term.&uot;