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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Perry Lake urge recreation visitors to be cautions of lower than usual lake levels. Shallow points and normally submerged hazards are becoming a common sight. It's important for all visitors to understand the lake and risks associated with recreating in low water.

Want to learn more about the lake and some of its recreation opportunities? Click the virtual link button below!

The dam consists of a rolled earth-fill embankment about 7,750 feet long, constructed to an elevation approximately 95 feet above the streambed with gated outlet works and a gated chute-type spillway in the left abutment. The outlet works is located in the center of the dam and includes several features. The outlet conduit, which is 23.5 feet in diameter and 564.25 feet long, extends through the earth embankment with approach and outlet channels. It is preceded by two rectangular passages of 11.75 feet wide and 23.5 feet high. Each passage contains an emergency gate and a service gate. Both gates are hydraulically operated. Discharges enter a concrete stilling basin immediately downstream of the outlet conduit. Two rows of staggered baffle blocks reduce the velocity of the water before it goes into the outlet channel. The intake structure and control tower contain all of the operating machinery and equipment. Additional pertinent data is listed below.

Built between 1964 and 1969, Perry Lake, in conjunction with other Corps of Engineers projects, provides flood control for the Kansas, Missouri, and Mississippi River Valleys. During the first nineteen years of operation, Perry Lake provided flood control benefits calculated at over eight times the construction cost of $47,900,000. In addition to flood control, Perry Lake is used to supplement water flow for navigational purposes and provides 150,000 acre-feet of water storage.

The Perry Lake Corps of Engineers manage an agricultural leasing program that is beneficial to local farmers as well as area wildlife.