That's the myth people want to believe because they want to blame someone for the damage to their property caused by record rainfalls throughout the Great Lakes Basin.
People also want to believe the Moses-Saunders Dam can just be opened and all the water will immediately drain away. Of course if the dam suddenly disappeared and the water left via the St Lawrence, Montreal would be washed away in the process. Lowering the water 1 inch on Ontario raises the water 11 inches in Montreal. Dropping the water 1 foot on Lake Erie would raise the water level on Ontario by about 16 inches.
Between Duluth and the Moses-Saunders dam on the St Lawrence there is only one dam, at Sault St Marie, the outlet for Lake Superior. And all that water flows right through my marina.
April 8 this past spring the lake was 246’ at that point the spring melt was happening on the Ottawa River in 5-6 weeks with them slowing the out flow at the dam to protect Montreal the water went to over 249’
At that time they were able to open the dam and the out flow was maxed out for a couple of months at 10,400
They dropped the level back to 246’
Since then they have cut the out flows way back to 8,500+- to reduce the current for shipping
This period was the time when they could of lowered the water to 244.5 and it would of set us up for a good spring. Instead shipping got preference over the entire lake and we are now really in danger of even higher levels this coming spring