The inlaws house has had to be sand bagged on and off for the last 10 years. Before that, not once. Lock masters use to be able to control water levels themselves but aren't anymore. They get their instructions as to when to let water out and when not to. My grandpa, great grandpa and a family friend had a combined 90 or so years working on the trent between maintenance and running a lock. My grandpa could go open or close the gates depending on how the run off was going. Our family friend told me that the one who determines when to open or close the gates was making his decisions a few years ago based on looking out his window and never once got out to see what the snowpack was in areas of the trent. When The inlaws built their place in the 70's, they put it 1 foot above the historical high water for that area. Roughly 10 years ago the water came up about 10-12 feet from summer levels and flooded their downstairs. The same goes for A resort on sparrow lake. A family friends family started the resort and talking to her dad, they never had any flooding until the last 10 years or so.