Engineering Options for Lake Level Control

The Corps of Engineers is by definition an engineering organization. As such they should be sued for professional incompetence on Lake Level Control for the Savannah River. I am a Chemical Engineer and I'm used to looking at problems similar to the Lake Level problem at Lake Thurmond. In any such problem you look at all the options to find the optimum solution. The Corps has looked at only the option of following the antiquated flow rates which are totally inadequate for today's drought situation. Just for kicks let me list a few of the more obvious engineering options for this situation:

1) Destroy Lake Russell before you mess with either Thurmond or Hartwell. The business and real estate interests for this lake are inconsequential compared to Thurmond and Hartwell. And the business of "can't go below a certain level" can be corrected by opening the dam.
2) Discontinue power generation on Lake Thurmond as soon as the lake drops more than 2 ft below normal and go immediately to minimum demonstrated flows measured at the locks closest to Augusta.
3) Determine on a case by case basis the cost to engineer a way to operate downstream factories, waste treatment facilities, and water uptakes for drinking and cooling, versus river flows. At present we are just throwing costly lake volume downstream with no justification for doing so. Not weighing the cost in lost real estate and business values against the downstream corrective costs is totally incompetent from an engineering stand point.
4) Look at what it would take to make permanent downstream changes so that future droughts would not require destruction of our lakes. If looked at long term (so that future growth with constant levels at Lakes Thurmond and Hartwell is factored in) real estate values and business values around the lakes should far outweigh the occasional cost to engineer drought proofing downstream.

As for the environmental concerns I've addressed these numerous times throughout this blog. As long as the amount of water in from rainfall is passed downstream the environmentalists do not have a leg to stand on. Anything beyond that would be man made interference with mother nature which is what environmental concerns are all about.

One last thing. The Corps insists that their hands are tied because they can only follow the edicts of the politicians. We proved with the Nuremberg trials that this excuse doesn't hold water. The Corps by virtue of being an engineering unit should present the engineering arguments associated with Lake Level control. The politicians who are split depending on which side of the dam they are on would then have a basis for discussion among themselves and the public would have a basis for judging how well the politicians are doing. In my professional opinion the Corps is guilty of gross negligence and should be sued for same.