CORPS NOW USING BROAD RIVER FLOWS BUT DOES THAT HELP RECREATION

The latest issue of balancing the basin goes into great detail about how flows in the Broad River are now being used to help assess release rates along with Lake Levels.  While low flows in the Broad initiating lower release rates is an improvement for Recreation at the onset of a drought, the manner in which these are factored in shows very little concern for recreation.  For example the current return to near normal lake levels is a surprise to everybody.  The Corps was predicting a repeat of very low lake levels for this season yet they refused to hold releases at 3600cfs (3100 in colder months).  They even used the flows in the Broad River as an excuse to raise releases to 4,000cfs while they were still expecting a difficult summer.  From the standpoint of recreation, releases should be held to the minimum until full recovery occurs in order to prevent continued destruction to recreation if the drought continues.

 

It is important to distinguish between someone being able to fish a given spot from what we mean by destroying recreation.  When the word recreation is used here and in the responsibilities listed for the Corps it means the huge multi-million dollar infrastructure necessary for there to be recreation on the lake.  This includes marinas, shoreline access for the many people who have invested their savings into a place at the lake, overall attraction to the general public (once a lake gets a bad reputation people stop coming), etc. etc.  The amount of money destroyed with regard to recreation in a major drought is in the hundreds of millions of dollars far offsetting any financial gains from increased power production with higher release rates.

 

To illustrate let me list briefly what would happen if recreation were a major concern the way it should be:

·         Someone with a substantial amount of money involved in recreation would be present at all meetings where the Corps discusses release rates.  Currently  Fish and Wildlife, Georgia and South Carolina DNR, and  NOAA representatives are always present.  But the community providing the huge infrastructure for recreation is not represented.  Matter of fact requests for minutes of these meetings has even been denied recreational interests.

·         The drought management plan would be similar to the one Duke Power uses for Lake Keowee.  In a recent meeting of the SRBAC, Duke Power discussed how, at the insistence of the Corps, they now will allow Keowee to drop as much as 10’.  But they made it clear they have no intent of allowing it to drop any further destroying Lake Keowee from the standpoint of recreation.  The reason given was that they intend to be a good neighbor to all  the lake residents that have been there as long as Duke Power has.

·         The draw down at the end of the season would only be 2’ instead of 4’ recognizing we have twice the volume of lakes to catch winter runoffs.

·         At present worry over what MIGHT happen downstream trumps ACTUAL observed destruction to recreation.  If recreation were on the same footing the way it should be the Corps would be forced to use the best data available to balance recreation against downstream effects.  This is known as engineering.  Since the only people deciding the release rates are those that worry about possible effects downstream, recreation doesn’t stand a chance. 

 

Some of you may feel that Save Our Lakes Now is too negative about the way the Corps is operating the Savannah River Basin.  Please rest assured we will be the first to sing the Corps’ praises when they recognize and protect recreation in a manner similar to the way they treat downstream issues.  Let me leave you with one final thought.  If the Colonel responsible for the Savannah River Basin had his life savings tied up in a nice retirement home on Lake Thurmond, do you think things would be run differently?